Police use social media
to identify suspects in
rioting incidents
JEREMY HAINSWORTH VANCOUVER
In the wake of Vancouver’s
June 15 Stanley Cup Final riots,
reports have circulated that
people photographed or videoed
in the vandalism and looting
have lost employment. And for
labour and civil rights lawyers,
it’s raising some interesting
questions.
The riots generated the posting of photos and videos on a
myriad of social media sites,
with police and media of all
forms using them to find those
involved. In some cases, public
shaming sites were set up to
denounce the participants. In
others, donors have threatened
to withdraw funding from universities unless students alleged
to have been involved were
expelled.
In the case of junior water
polo player and University of
Calgary scholarship winner
Nathan Kotylak, photographed
holding a lighter to a rag in a
police car gas tank, the family
had to leave town and his father
temporarily close his medical
practice. Water Polo Canada said
a player had been suspended.
“The Vancouver Police
Department may be
able to use the
Insurance Corporation
of B.C.’s facial-recognition
technology to match
faces in riot pictures
against drivers’
licences.
“If you handle money and
you’re convicted of looting, that
might defeat your civil claim
from wrongful dismissal and
your human rights claim as
well,” he said.
The universities’ situation is
different, he added.
In the case of UBC and Cac-nio, Richards said the university
has decided to let the case take
its course in the courts.
“They’ve decided not to
doubly punish her,” he said.
Still, Richards shakes his
head wondering what rioters
were thinking of with all the
technology now available to so
many people to take photos and
videos in such situations.
“They’re kind of grand-
standing on Youtube,” he said.
“It’s a brave new world.”
And the identifying of people,
along with its fallout, may be far
from over.
While it has yet to use it, the
Vancouver Police Department
(VPD) may be able to use the
Insurance Corporation of B.C.
(ICBC)’s facial-recognition technology to match faces in riot
pictures against drivers’ licences.
Subject to receipt of a court
order, the corporation’s facial-recognition technology will be
able to support the identification of suspects, Premier Christy
Clark’s office announced June
17. ICBC has used the technology since 2009 to protect customers from identity theft and
fraud related to drivers’ licences.
On June 28, the VPD said the
Integrated Riot Investigation
Team continues sorting through
thousands of pieces of information and photos related to the
riot. To date, the team cata-logued 4,000 emails and flagged 1,700 which identify potential suspects involved in 120
separate incidents.
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association doesn’t believe ICBC
should be sharing its data, saying the public insurer isn’t a
branch of the police department
and not in the business of popu-lation-based surveillance.
“We’ve been all over the ICBC
database issue,” said association
policy director Micheal Vonn. n
New report on ‘law
enforcement justifications’
As part of its criminal
investigations last year, the RCMP
authorized its agents to engage in
actions that would have otherwise
amounted to fraud, identity theft and
being found in a gaming house, the
Minister of Public Safety said last
month in his annual report under
ss. 25.1 to 25. 4 of the Criminal Code.
These so-called “law enforcement
justification” provisions give police a
limited justification at law for acts
and omissions that would otherwise
be offences. No police officers were
authorized to commit such acts in
2010. But the RCMP did give four
authorizations permitting an officer to
direct others to commit justified acts
or omissions. The cases investigated
related to mortgage fraud, terrorist
activity, and participation in the
activities of a criminal organization
and a gaming or betting house.
CJC launches public
inquiry into judge
CONTENTS
NEWS
ONTARIO CA nixes as-of-right
interim order appeals ...................1
International Trade Law
U.S. SECURITY rules on dual-nationals..................................... 13
PARENTAL LEAVE program
attracts many male applicants.....1
CANADA’S AWAKENING on trade
sanctions.................................... 13
EMPLOYERS NEED work nexus to
fire rioters.....................................2
BUSINESS & CAREERS
PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIES
offer family law reform insights.... 3
GLOBAL LAW firms look to
Canada ....................................... 21
The Canadian Judicial Council
(CJC) will conduct a public inquiry
into the conduct of Manitoba Court of
Queen’s Bench Associate Chief
Justice Lori Douglas. The council of
chief justices announced July 6 that
“after conducting a detailed review of
a number of allegations…a Review
Panel of five judges has concluded
that the matter may be serious
enough to warrant the judge’s
removal from office.”
The CJC is inquiring into unproven
allegations by Alex Chapman, a
former client of Justice Douglas’s
husband, Jack King. Chapman alleges
he was sexually harassed and
discriminated against. He complains
King harassed him in 2003 to have
sex with his wife, who was then
practising as a lawyer. He alleges
King showed him about 30 sexually
explicit photos of his wife. King’s
lawyer has said King was suffering
from depression at the time.
DOCTORS CAN’T unilaterally cut
off life support.............................. 3
HOW FACEBOOK helps lawyers
achieve their goals ..................... 22
Estate went to the dogs
PORTRAIT OF the artist as an
ex-lawyer ..................................... 4
SURVEY: LAW firms plan to hire
staff this year............................. 23
OPINION
MENTORING HELPS both young
and old ....................................... 24
JEFFREY MILLER....................... 5
FOCUS
In another case, Richards said,
carpenter Connor McIlvenna was
fired after he acknowledged he
was at the riot and posted on
Facebook that “Vancouver needed
some remodeling.”
“That’s going to be a tougher
case,” Richards said. “There’s no
link to him damaging his
employer.”
Citing R. v. Nikolovski,
[1996] S.C.J. No. 122, Richards
said employers can rely on photo
and video evidence once it is
established it has not been
altered or changed. He said the
person taking a photo may have
to testify to the originality of the
evidence and that it accurately
depicts what they saw as they
took it.
“That’s going to be pretty
damning evidence for some of
the accused.”
However, there is hope for
some of those who lose their
jobs or are convicted of a crime
arising from the riots, Richards
said. He advised that they have
recourse to the provincial
Human Rights Tribunal under a
section of B.C.’s Human Rights
Act which states that a person
cannot be refused employment
if convicted of an offense not
connected to that employment.
We want to hear from you!
Email us at: tlw@lexisnexis.ca
Business Law
THE PENDULUM swings back for
indirect purchaser class actions... 9
RICHES, MCKENZIE & HERBERT LLP
PATENTS, TRADE MARKS, COPYRIGHT, LITIGATION
WHY THE Toronto Stock Exchange
faces an uncertain future ............. 9
DEPARTMENTS
BARRISTERS & SOLICITORS - PATENT & TRADE MARK AGENTS
LAW FIRM’S client microsite
proves popular ........................... 10
BC AND the HST: a good policy
initiative gone wrong.................. 10
Careers ................. 22
Classified Ads ............ 19
Lawddities............... 10
Letter to the Editor . . . . . . . . . 5
Legal Briefs...............2
Names in the News......... 4
Weekly Digest............ 17
PAUL HERBERT, B.SC., PHM., R.PH, LL.B., J.D., PH.D.
DAN HI TCHCOCK, B.ENG. (ELEC. ENG.), LL.B.
JEFF PERVANAS, B.A.SC. (ENG. SCI.), LL.B.
BOBBY ATHWAL, B.A.SC. (MECH. ENG.), M.A.SC., LL.B., J.D.
BYRON THOM, B.A.SC. (ENG. SCI.), LL.B.
BRANT LATHAM, B.A.SC. B.SC. (CHEM. ENG.), LL.B.
GARY M. TRAVIS, B.SC. (GEOL.), LL.B.
MICHAEL ADAMS, B.ENG. (MECH. ENG.), B.SC., LL.B.
MICHAEL YUN, B.SC. (BIOCHEM), J.D.
TRADE MARK AGENT MARTA TANDORI CHENG
THE DIRECTORS’ due diligence
defence dilemma ....................... 11
2 BLOOR ST. EAST, SUITE 1800
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ESTABLISHED 1887
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A man cut out of his mother’s will
for drinking and drug use has been
awarded more than 90 per cent of
her estate because her “legal and
moral obligations weigh more heavily
than his behaviour.”
Elsie Johansen left her entire
estate of $116,000 to the Calgary
Humane Society when she died in
2008. The lawyer who prepared the
will said she “knowingly chose to
disinherit her son,” believing that if
she didn’t, her money “would all go to
drugs and booze.”
The 51-year-old has hepatitis C.
He has not worked since 2005 and
lives on welfare. Alberta Queen’s
Bench Justice Sheilah Martin held
that “Mrs. Johansen owed both
legal and moral obligations to her
son during her lifetime and at her
death and owed neither to her
chosen beneficiary.”
