CRAB Park campers could face criminal contempt proceedings
The Attorney-General's Ministry is reviewing possible criminal contempt-of-court charges for about 45 CRAB Park campers who were arrested after allegedly violating a court injunction, a judge was told Wednesday.
On Sept. 11, B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson released a ruling in which he asked the ministry to consider criminal contempt-of-court proceedings for the homeless who were arrested June 16 at the waterfront site of the encampment on federal port lands.
On Wednesday, Trevor Shaw, director of criminal appeals and special prosecutions for the B.C. Prosecution Service, told the judge that a senior Crown counsel had been assigned to review the evidence and had been doing so diligently. “Material has been received and continues to be received from the (Vancouver Fraser) Port Authority and from the Vancouver Police Department,” Shaw said.
Shaw said that as part of that continuing analysis, the police have been asked to provide more video that relates to events before the arrests.
“The VPD estimates that this involves an additional review of 120 hours of video. The process will take them three-to-four weeks. I ask for a further four weeks after that as we continue to work on this. We need to look at that material and other elements and considerations relating to potentially over 40 persons, and then come back to the court with our best advice and position,” he said.
Shaw asked the judge to have the matter put over until Nov. 18 at the convenience of the court. The judge responded by saying that he was less concerned about the convenience of the court than the convenience of the various individuals before him.
“I think it only fair to them that a full investigation be conducted by the attorney before any decision is taken as to whether to proceed with criminal charges or not. I appreciate that that delay will be a matter of some concern to these individuals, but as I say, I want them to be treated fairly and I expect that that's exactly what you will do,” the judge said.
Several of the people who were arrested earlier spoke in court against the possibility of criminal contempt proceedings, arguing that it was inefficient and a waste of valuable time and public resources. The matter was put over to Nov. 18.