Canadian Lawyer

12 A p r i l 2 0 1 4 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m says, "I certainly wouldn't shy away from protecting my rights should anyone not live up to their end of a contract." A growing number of people like Glavicich are representing themselves in courts in Alberta and across the coun- try. That is one reason Alberta Justice Minister Jonathan Denis called about a hundred people connected to family and civil law to an Edmonton hotel last November. One of them was the for- mer president of the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association, Donna Purcell. She practises civil litigation in Red Deer and says "everyone agrees the system needs to be fixed, it's too slow and there are too many self reps." The result is overbur- dened courts, inefficient use of resources, and most importantly members of the public failing to find inexpensive access to possible remedies. Denis was looking for ideas from the group and he also wanted to test drive some proposals his department had developed. One idea is a so-called triage desk. It would be one of the first stops for people with civil disputes coming into contact with the legal system. It would have legally trained staff ready to handle queries and direct the public to the best place to deal with human rights or fam- ily issues. Some landlord-tenant disputes, which take up a lot of court time, could be redirected to the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, which often proves a better forum than small claims court. While Purcell thinks the proposals are "headed the right way" she notes "we're waiting to hear where the financ- ing for this initiative will come from." The minister says he's hoping internal savings produced by the streamlining will help finance the project. He is talking confidently of inaugurating the first triage desks as early as July. Denis is also planning to raise the limit for small claims to $50,000 from the present $25,000 with a plan to change the legislation in the fall so the limit can be increased even further to $75,000. He believes that would keep more disputes within the Provincial Court and relieve the stress on the clogged Court of Queen's Bench. Denis is quick to point out his drive for more efficient handling of lesser legal matters "will never interfere with a citizen's right to a day in court." Nevertheless, he thinks a lot of people will be attracted to a quicker, cheaper, and less formal settlement of small but important matters. That is definitely the view of chef Glavicich, who likes the sound of the proposals. "Any time there is good and free access for people to take care of their own interests without bogging down the system, it benefits everyone in the long run." Denis himself can connect with that. One of the reasons he became a lawyer was because of his experience as a self- represented litigant in Regina when he was 20. It involved a $3,000 business dispute and Denis admits he found the experience intimidating and confusing. "Ever since then," he says, "I've had a special feeling for people who decide to take on the system themselves." — Ge RegIonal wRap-up b.c. lawyers get 'noVel' class actIon suIt certIfIed V ancouver lawyers Meldon Ellis and Philip Scarisbrick, who recently had a class action suit certified against the federal government, are hoping to prove the Department of Fisheries went fishing without a licence and now needs to hand over its illegal catch. Their suit is so unusual the certifying judge called it "novel." "To my knowledge to date there has been no authority awarding a fisher damages or restitution of fees paid by the fisher under one of these fisheries management schemes," said British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Susan A. Griffin. Burnell v. Canada (Fisheries and Oceans) arises from a practice the DoF engaged in from 2001-06 of establishing what Ellis said were "fish for funding" schemes. Under the scheme, the DoF took a portion of the annual total catch of a fish stock — in this case the halibut catch on the West Coast — and gave it in the form of new quota license (L437) to a private, third-party group, the Pacific Halibut Management Association of B.C. The PHMA then sold a quota share to fishermen but Ellis' group is alleging the price was more than halibut fishermen normally paid for quota. "It was like paying an extra tax," said Ellis. The revenues over the six-year period were either returned to the DoF or used in DoF research projects or management projects the third parties carried out on behalf of DoF. "This case was brought to me in 2007. One of my clients, a halibut fisherman, brought it to me on behalf of a number of licensees after the Federal Court of Appeal (in the case of Larocque v. Canada (Minister of Fisheries and Oceans)) ruled in 2006," said Ellis. The appeal found the minister of Fisheries and Oceans did not have the statutory authority to fund research from the proceeds of these management funding schemes. They were deemed "unlawful," said Ellis, and shortly after the appeal the DoF wound down any such fish-for-funds schemes. But halibut fishermen who had paid that extra premium to gain part of that 10 alberta out to IMproVe costly, slow cIVIl courts Continued from page 11

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