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Justice committee Thank you.
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee My colleague Ms. Lee and I would like to thank the committee for providing us with the opportunity to appear before you today. Ms. Lee and I are both criminal defence lawyers. We practise primarily in British Columbia and also deal primarily in impaired driving law. The amen
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Thank you, Mr. Cooper. Certainly that could be a concern. However, in my practice, I don't see it. Police officers have the training, and if they don't have the training and they feel they can't detect impaired drivers with the resources, the tools, and the skills they already
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Thank you, Mr. Rankin. One of the other issues as well, though, has to do with section 10(b), of course, as you rightly pointed out. When those rights are suspended at the roadside, a motorist doesn't have access to counsel, which is normally afforded to people who are, of cours
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Yes. We have seen that being employed in Washington state and, to my understanding, employed very well, to the benefit of really all parties to a criminal proceeding and to the public. We want to make sure our police officers are doing things correctly. We really do. I feel my ro
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee We are seeing that the sentences are being increased substantially. Also something that really struck me when I was reviewing this bill were these new aggravating factors that are now meant to be considered. Some of them, quite frankly, lack definition and clarity. I am a little
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee There are no new minimums, but we are seeing a much wider range of sentences.
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee I'm sorry but I can't agree with that. Just from a practical perspective, as a criminal defence lawyer, I know that where my client is seeing more jeopardy in terms of what kind of sentence would be handed down to them and where the initial crown sentencing position is a much hig
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee I think that Mr. Spratt has indicated that he is very enthusiastic about this.
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee I would like to interject. I can indicate that I've had one client in seven years of practice in the criminal context for whom this has been an issue. In the administrative context, there have been quite a few more instances, but it's a different standard.
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Yes and no. The fail reading would be used to inform the officer as to whether or not they were going to then move forward to make a subsequent demand for a breath sample, but it's not just that reading that the officer is getting. The other things that the officer is collecting
September 20th, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee As my colleague Ms. Lee has stated, the problems with this bill are numerous, and while we all accept the seriousness of sex assault and the effect it has on our communities, this bill relies on the mistaken assumption that amendments to the Criminal Code will somehow significant
October 23rd, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee I would echo what Mr. Spratt said. Again, if the purpose of this bill is to provide consistency and clarity with respect to our criminal law, and to ensure that it is being applied in a consistent manner from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, then certainly we would want to see those
October 23rd, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Yes, Mr. McKinnon, I would love to answer that question. I can tell you that in addition to my role as a criminal defence lawyer, I also work extensively with marginalized communities in the non-profit sector in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, so I have very close dealings with m
October 23rd, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon
Justice committee Even if we can find the public funds to do it, I still feel there would essentially be a two-tier system in place. We have these marginalized people who are now accessing legal aid lawyers. As we know, legal aid lawyers are unfortunately very overworked. Then we have more privile
October 23rd, 2017Committee meeting
Sarah Leamon