During a period of protest in 2002 about the lack of social housing for the poor and homeless in Vancouver, some of the protesters entered a building that had formerly housed the Woodward’s Department Store. We represented the owner of the building, the Provincial Rental Housing Corporation, and obtained a court order on short notice requiring the protesters to leave the building. A number of protesters refused to leave and were arrested. They were subsequently released on certain undertakings, one of which was to appear in court at a later date to address the possibility of criminal contempt charges. While our client decided not to pursue criminal contempt proceedings, the court ordered our client to pay court costs to the protesters who showed up for the hearing. We successfully appealed this order to the British Columbia Court of Appeal.
Click here for the Court’s decision.
