AG Supports Televising Stanley Cup Riot Trials
Friday, December 23, 2011 @ 3:55 AM
Prince George, B.C.- The Attorney General is expressing her support for broadcasting the court proceedings of those charged in the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots.
In an opinion editorial released to the media, A.G. Shirley Bond outlines why she has directed the Crown Counsel to make application to the court to allow the proceedings to be televised.
She says the Government “believes that the courts need to be open institutions for the public and when we have opportunities to enhance the transparency of our justice system, we need to pursue those.”
She points to the live, on line broadcast by the CBC of the polygamy case before the B.C. Supreme Court as an example of how sensitive matters can be dealt with in a manner that is satisfactory to all parties.
Bond says the decision about whether to allow proceedings to be broadcast has to balance a number of factors, including whether the broadcast is in the public interest.
“There will always be discussion among those in the justice system about the virtues of any innovation that moves us beyond the current way of doing business. I often hear of people who have lost confidence in our justice system. I can think of no better way and in no better circumstance than with the Vancouver riots for the public to see justice in action. This initiative brings us a step closer to making our province’s courts more open and accountable to British Columbians, and we welcome the debate it has generated.”
That debate includes the argument that broadcasting the trials is akin to “public shaming” to which Bond responds “Let me just say this: we believe broadcasting the trials of accused rioters is in the public interest and will help to maintain confidence in our justice system. It is always important to remember that every individual who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty. At the same time, the residents of our province, and especially those who live and work in Vancouver, expect some form of accountability for those who wantonly and senselessly destroyed property and, in some cases, assaulted their fellow citizens.”
The applications for broadcasting the trial will take time, and ultimately it will be up to the presiding Judge to make the decision on whether or not cameras will be allowed in the courtroom.
Comments
Oh no…our own ‘judge judy’ coming soon!
I think broadcasting trials is a god idea, but making special rules for certain trials is ridiculous. if they want to allow cameras in the courthouse a standard procedure, that would be appreciated. Then we would better understand how our court system works, or doesn’t.
Yup! I think we should have cameras in the courtroom to cover such cases as the BCR fiasco this government was so determined to cover up.
Now let’s see live on TV what kind of ridiculous excuses their defense lawyers are going to present in court – together with what kind of lame excuses the judges are going to come up with to let them off the hook with a mild slap on the wrist, again!
If you don’t want your face to be seen on public television: Don’t burn, loot and destroy property which does not belong to you! Don’t riot!
You’re lucky that in Canada rioters don’t end up facing a firing squad!
I think we’ll see a lot of, “Please have mercy on my client. He or she is a first time offender, blah blah. He or she just got caught up in the moment, etc.”
There is no need to make these trials any more public than they would be under normal circumstances. If the trials are held in Vancouver people who wish to can attend.
I have not heard of anyone other than Shirley Bond, who actually wants to make the trials public. Does the Goverment have a purpose in mind. Are they trying to send the rest of the people in BC a message as to what will happend in the future if they participate in a riot?? Who knows. We need a better explanation of why these trials should go public.
I would also like the Government and the press to better explain where the **Anarchists** are who apparently participated in these riots. Seems they dont actually exist. Most people who have been charged so far, seem to be normal run of the mill people who got caught up in the moment. Some of them from well to do families, and highly educated. Hmmmmmmm.
Last but not least, it does not take a genius to figure out if you have a high profile game like the Stanley Cup playoffs, with all the attendent hype, and you provide a huge area for people to congregate, supply the TV Programming, and of course knowing that there will be lots of alcohol in the area, the outcome is pretty predictable. Throw in the police force that was not prepared for this event, and WALLA you have a serious problem.
Seems to me that the City of Vancouver, the Police, the business, and TV people, and the Provincial Government all had a role to play in this riot. They all stood to benefit either monatarily, or through good PR and they milked it to the limit. When the milk went sour, they did not take any responsibility for the outcome.
Playing politics with the Justice System is what the Americans do. In this case, all we need to do is charge those who have broken the law, give them a fair trail, and an appropriate sentence, and get on with our lives. Making it a showcase event, is not appropriate.
Palopu: “Seems to me that the City of Vancouver, the Police, the business, and TV people, and the Provincial Government all had a role to play in this riot. They all stood to benefit either monatarily, or through good PR and they milked it to the limit.”
Please tell me you’re kidding.
JohnnyBelt. Its no different than a kid having a house party while his parents are away, and inviting everyone to attend. The party starts out great, but in the early hours of the morning all hell breaks loose, and the house is destroyed.
There are consequences for actions. A hell of a lot of people in Vancouver stayed away from that area because they knew that all hell could break loose, and it did.
Once all the tickets for the games were sold, that should have been the end of it. There was no need to set things up for a big **party**. People could have watched the game in the bars, at freinds houses, or at home. Or if they had facilities like the CN Centre they could watch there. No need to have thousands of people milling around the streets, being drunk and disorderly.
Gimme a break Palupo – there are public gatherings all over the world all the time. The fault here lies with the rioters. Or are you one of those that believes no one is responsible for their actions? Whatever happens you can blame the government right?
No one would watch…And watch where?..Some obscure channel. an internet channel?…
People watch American idol and dancing with the stars, ever watch senate meetings or panel shows on CPAC?…Yea, I thought so..
CBC won`t air it, nor CTV, not Global, so who?..
TV stations have paid money for their shows on their current roster, who gets dumped, postponed?
People work all day, come home eat, relax a few hours and repeat…
The only one`s who would be watching are the same lazy, unemployed welfare bum occupiers that the media has railed against, right?….Doesn`t the media dump the rioters and occupiers into the same pot?
The media claims most work hard, families first right?
Well, Christy Clark can stomp her feet and demand it, and if in fact they televise these trials..
I`ll bet dollars to doughnuts that after early ratings no one will want to continue televising boredom…
700 trials?…..Grow up people.
“Gimme a break Palupo – there are public gatherings all over the world all the time. The fault here lies with the rioters. Or are you one of those that believes no one is responsible for their actions? Whatever happens you can blame the government right?”
Bingo. The hogwash assertion that the rioters are somehow not responsible for their actions is a sad commentary on today’s society, and it’s too bad that many people actually subscribe to this line of thinking.
I guess it’s always easier to blame others and play the victim rather than owning up to your actions.
I agree criminalmind ….
It does not say how the trials are supposed to be broadcast. Who would buy commercial time? The government?
Want to put it on live streaming like City Council? That would be fine for direct access to info rather than through a filter of another observer.
I do not think any commercial station would cover any significant amount of the trials. I would think that they might be a few minutes of coverage on the evening news or maybe a 30 minute special on a local station.
If they broadcast these trials, then all trials (no matter the crime) should be.
I agree with Palopu that the City of Vancouver is somewhat to blame along with the individual protestors. It was a dumb decision to allow so many people to gather downtown, and if the City of Van. thought people would be responsible with their drinking, then they are sadly naive. The Olympics are a special set of circumstances and just because these large gatherings worked then, does not mean that it would work for any large event. Stupid decision by the City of Van.
If you had a business in Vancouver which had its store windows smashed, merchandise looted and employees fleeeing and locking themselves in bathrooms for hours fearing for their lives, with these crazed lunatic rioters trying to break those doors down too you wouldn’t have any sympathy or tolerance for these criminals!
Let’s see their faces live on TV, maybe it will deter other scum from burning, looting, destroying private and public property and giving the city of Vancouver and B.C. a black eye world wide!
A public caning should be part of every conviction and sentence!
Lots of signifigant ppl lost alot during this fiasco and so they should have. Even a beauty queen lost her potential crown….everyone.. with me now….awwwwww. Its to the point where you cant do anything without being filmed. I like it. I live an honest life.
hey crimalmind. the province can film my day to day actions….up to my arse in grease and oil…..wait a minute…dirty jobs has done that….and i get paid for it. love it…i get no air time for it…wtf
I am not condoning the actions of the rioters. In fact I agree whole heartedly that they should be charged and tried in a regular court without being televised.
What I am saying is that the City of Vancouver, should not have set the stage for such a huge gathering of people, when they knew (or should have known) that their would be alcohol abuse and the possibility of trouble. In other words, proactive as opposed to reactive.
There is more to life than a bunch of booze and a hockey game. You reap what you sow.
Have a nice day.
If there is one thing that Governments are good at above all else, that is refusing to accept responsibility for anything and shifting blame as soon as possible.
Hey, people are pretty good at that too! I wonder who taught whom?
Oh yeah, and hindsight has and always will be 20/20. It’s easy to be an armchair quarterback and do the analysis after the fact.
Whatever turns your crank JohnnyBelt.
I think the last riot in BC was in Pr Rupert in the late 50’s or early 60’s. The crowd was read the riot act by the Mayor at that time and then the water hoses were turned on and the crown was dispersed.
Seems like Vancouver was not even capable of reading the riot act. They did read it, but they were so far away most people could not hear it. There is no doubt in my mind that this situation could have been handled better.
Nothing to do with arm chair quaterbacking, more to do with common sense.
In Canada the riot act has been incorporated into the Criminal Code. The proclamation is worded as follows:
**Her Majesty the Queen charges and commands all persons being assembled immediately to disperse and peaceably to depart to their habitations or to their lawful business on the pain of being guilty of an offence for which, on conviction, they may be sentenced to imprisonment for life. God Save the Queen**
Unlike the original Riot Act which gave you an hour to disperse, the Criminal Code requires the assembled people to disperse within 30 minutes. Paragraph 68 provides for the life imprisonment should the proclamation be ignored. In the absence of a proclamation, paragraph 65 stipulates imprisonment for not more than 2 years as punishment for rioting.
The Riot Act is seldom read in Canada with the 1958 events in Prince Rupert, BC being perhaps the best known. The most recent reading was during Vancouvers Stanley Cup Riot in June 2011.
See ss. 32-33 and 64-69 of the Criminal Code.
I suspect that had the people who were involved in the riot, or who were in attendence during the riot been aware of the penalties associated with a riot, they would have probably stayed home.
In any event they are now caught up in a huge **dragnet** that in my opinion could have been avoided.
Palopu, you forgot the two Kelowna regatta riot’s in the mid eighties. I know for sure the mayor read the riot act at the first one.
Palopu: “Nothing to do with arm chair quaterbacking, more to do with common sense.”
Sure. If there had been a riot during the Vancouver Olympics, I have no doubt you would be on here saying that you knew it was going to happen all along. That’s just the type of hard hitting analysis you do.
Palopu: “Whatever turns your crank JohnnyBelt.”
I believe that people are responsible for their actions and should suffer the consequences.
Palopu: “I suspect that had the people who were involved in the riot, or who were in attendence during the riot been aware of the penalties associated with a riot, they would have probably stayed home.”
Doubtful, but keep on speculating.
JohnnyBelt. I had a pretty good premonition that if Vancouver lost the Hockey game the S..t would hit the fan.
The surprising thing is that the City of Vancouver and the Police didnt seem to be prepared for what happened. Hmmmmmmmm.
“JohnnyBelt. I had a pretty good premonition that if Vancouver lost the Hockey game the S..t would hit the fan.”
Big deal. It’s easy to cover your bases and say “Hm, I thought this might happen”.
Maybe the City should have called in the Canadian Forces to keep the peace. Then you would have been on here complaining about the cost. Right?
I think its inappropriate and a slippery slope to televise criminal trials where innocence is supposed to be presumed until proven guilty. The rational to pick and choose opens the door for an abuse of the system, and that in the end erodes any confidence in the system to be fair and unbiased.
I would be more in agreement that trials involving appeals that involve precedence be televised… or cases involving public office… but for straight forward criminal offenses it is wrong… it leads to show trials.
I wonder if the law suits for slander and such relating to damage to public character will also be televised that surely will result from those that are held up as guilty until proven innocent and later found innocent… will those trials also be televised or will the damage be done and the politics not be the same?
No doubt the Vancouver police and the province were not prepared and set it up for what happened… without that they wouldn’t be able to normalize new police state tactics on the judiciary and eventual crowd control that can be used to silence political rallies too… at some future date. That’s what the show trials are all about IMO.
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