August 15, 2011
British Columbia Supreme Court Orders Government and Foreign Broadcasters to Fund Lawsuit to Challenge Provisions of Radiocommunications Act
July 6, 2011
Yukon Supreme Court Renders Important Judgment on Environmental Assessment in the Yukon
June 16, 2011
Cambie Street Merchants Class Action Against Canada Line Allowed to Proceed
June 2, 2011
Court of Appeal Renders Important Decision on Exhaustion of Remedy in WCB Cases
May 19 , 2011
Olivia Pratten succeeds in constitutional challenge to sperm donor anonymity
[More >>]
April 26, 2011
Arvay Finlay Challenges Criminal Laws against Medically Assisted Dying on behalf of British Columbia Civil Liberties Association and others
[More >>]
April 25, 2011
Independence of the Judiciary in the Yukon
[More >>]
October 20, 2010
Falun Gong Wins in Court of Appeal: City Bylaw Struck Unconstitutional
[More >>]
October 18, 2010
Trial to Proceed to Determine Rights of Offspring of Sperm Donors
[More >>]
October 13, 2010
Court of Appeal Says that Sex Workers in British Columbia Have Standing to Challenge Prostitution Laws
[More >>]
September 23, 2010
British Columbia Supreme Court Rules that HST is valid in BC
[More >>]
August 23, 2010
Court Holds Anti-Hst Petition Can Proceed to Legislative Committee
[More >>]
August 9, 2010
Joseph Arvay named by Canadian Lawyer Magazine as one of the top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada
[More >>]
July 5, 2010
Vander Zalm Launches Constitutional Challenge to HST
[More >>]
June 18, 2010
Arvay Finlay to fight censorship at U Vic
[More >>]
June 15, 2010
Supreme Court of Canada Rewrites the Law on the Charter and Administrative Tribunals
[More >>]
May 20, 2010
British Columbia Court of Appeal Holds that Provincial law that authorizes the Warrantless Searches of Homes suspected of being Grow Ops is Unconstitutional
[More >>]
April 9, 2010
British Columbia Court of Appeal Clarifies the Question of Burden of Proof in Tax Cases
[More >>]
February 5, 2010
B.C. Supreme Court Certifies Class Action for Cambie Street Merchants in Nuisance Case Arising from Construction of Canada Line
[More >>]
February 5, 2010
B.C. Court of Appeal Decides Important "Mobility" Rights Case in Family Law
[More >>]
January 29, 2010
SCC Rules that Canadian Government Violates Omar Khadr’s Rights But Refuses to Order his Return to Canada: Arvay Finlay on for the BCCLA
[More >>]
January 29, 2010
B.C Court upholds Safe Injection Site Ruling
[More >>]
November 24, 2009
Arvay Finlay Acts for Coalition of Patients, Doctors and Health Care Professionals in Case that is to Decide the Fate of Medicare
[More >>]
October 21, 2009
Court of Appeal Dismisses Discrimination Claim Brought Against University Professors
[More >>]
October 13, 2009
Arvay Finlay Teams up with Walter Kosteckyj to Bring Civil Claim for Death of Robert Dziekanski
[More >>]
September 25, 2009
Arvay Finlay Succeeds in Ruling that the Appointment of Special Prosecutor in Polygamy Case is Unlawful
[More >>]
May 11, 2009
Arvay Finlay Seeks Stay of Prosecution in Polygamy Case
[More >>]
April 1, 2009
British Columbia Strikes Down Bill 42’s Restrictions on Third Party Election Spending: the Election “Gag Law”: Arvay Finlay counsel for the Plaintiffs
[More >>]
March 9, 2009
Supreme Court of Canada Upholds Decision by Immigration and Refugee Board to Deport Street Racer: Arvay Finlay Acted as the Board’s Counsel
[More >>]
January 29, 2009
Court Rules Against the Falun Gong: Arvay Finlay Will Appeal!
[More >>]
November 10 , 2008
Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Cambie Street Business Owners Against Canada Line Rapid Transit
[More >>]
October 28 , 2008
FIRST EVER CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED BY SPERM DONOR OFFSPRING IN CANADA
[More >>]
October 24 , 2008
BC Supreme Court Rules that Police Violate Citizens' Right to Privacy in Grow Op Case
[More >>]
August 19 , 2008
Arvay Finlay part of winning team in important First Nation Treaty Case
Crown Has Duty to Consult In Modern Treaties.
[More >>]
August 13 , 2008
Arvay Finlay succeeds in setting aside the Closure of a Public School
British Columbia Supreme Court holds that Comox Valley School Board acted unlawfully in closing the Cape Lazo Middle School in the Comox Valley.
[More >>]
June 27, 2008
Supreme Court of Canada Finds in Favour of First Nations in Landmark Fishing Rights Case
Arvay Finlay represented the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in landmark case that says that the Charter applies to acts of Canadian officials even if operating outside of Canada in certain circumstances.
[More >>]
May 27, 2008
Arvay Finlay part of winning team that succeeds in the Insite Case
British Columbia Supreme Court Strikes Down portions of Drug law that would prevent safe injection site from operating.
[More >>]
May 23, 2008
Supreme Court of Canada Finds in Favour of Omar Khadr
Arvay Finlay represented the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association in landmark case that says that the Charter applies to acts of Canadian officials even if operating outside of Canada in certain circumstances.
[More >>]
April 23, 2008
Arvay Finlay Challenges Constitutionality of Provincial 'Grow-Op' Law
Arvay Finlay represents two Surrey residents in challenging the Provincial legislation that allows the police to enter homes without a proper warrant, and to cut off electrical power if the homes are suspected of being used for marijuana grow-ops.
[More >>]
March 28, 2008
Arvay Finlay acts for the BCCLA in the Khadr case
Arvay Finlay acts for the BCCLA in the Khadr case which was recently argued in the Supreme Court of Canada.
[More >>]
January 7, 2008
Arvay Finlay Successful in Defending University Professors in Important Test of Academic Freedom
Arvay Finlay successfully defended four UBC proffessors who were accused of discrimination based on religion. The claim stemmed from a chat-room posting written by a classmate of the plaintiff about a Christian political candidate.
[More >>]
December 13, 2007
Defending First Nation Fishing Rights
Arvay Finlay represents the Tsawwassen First Nation in the Supreme Court of Canada in defending a government program that allows First Nations to fish for 24 hours without interference by commercial fisherman. The Supreme Court has reserved its decision.
[More >>]
August 21, 2007
Fighting to Save Canada's Only Safe-Injection Site
Arvay Finlay teams up with Schroeder Speier to challenge the constitutionality of the federal laws that require a permit to operate Vancouver’s Safe Injection Site.
[More >>]
August 20, 2007
Continuing Fight Against High Voltage Power Lines
Arvay Finlay files leave to appeal in its continuing fight to prevent high voltage power lines from being constructed in the backyards of the residents of Tsawwassen.
[More >>]
August 14, 2007
Richmond Hotel Sued Over Tourists’ Deaths
Arvay Finlay Sues Richmond's Best Western Hotel and Air Canada as a result of a death of two women when the hotel was set on fire.
[More >>]
August 9, 2007
Prostitution Laws Face Challenge
Arvay Finlay teams up with PIVOT to challenge the constitutionality of the prostitution laws.
[More >>]
August 8, 2007
Success Comes in Overlapping Land Claim Dispute
Arvay Finlay succeeds in fending off injunctions in two aboriginal cases where neighbouring First Nations try to stop other First Nations from ratifying a treaty based on alleged overlapping claims.
[More >>]
June 15, 2007
Standing Up Against High Voltage Power Lines
Arvay Finlay files leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada on Tsawwassen power line dispute.
[More >>]
June 13, 2007
Preventing Warrantless Searches
Arvay Finlay obtains interim injunction preventing RCMP from conducting warrantless searches of homes the City of Surrey suspect are grow-ops.
[More >>]
June 11, 2007
Collective Bargaining is a Constitutional Right
Joseph Arvay was lead counsel in a victory in the Supreme Court of Canada which has now held, reversing over 20 years of law, that workers have a constitutional right to collective bargaining.
[More >>]
May 4, 2007
Mill Workers Jobless
Arvay Finlay has recently argued a case in the British Columbia Court of Appeal on behalf of approximately 200 mill workers who lost their jobs when the mill in Youbou B.C. was closed down by reason of the government’s failure to include in a forest licence a clause (Clause 7) which was designed to keep mills open except where the Minister consents to the closure. This has been a long running dispute and depending on the outcome of the appeal the case will or will not proceed to trial.
[More >>]
March 20, 2007
Back Yard Power Lines
Arvay Finlay is set to argue, what will be a very significant case for the environment, in the B.C. Court of Appeal on March 26-27, 2007. The appeal arises from a proposal by BC Transmission Corporation and BC Hydro to site high voltage power lines through the back yards of residents in Tsawwassen where local residents are concerned about the possible health risks of electromagnetic fields.
[More >>]
July 14, 2006
Mental distress, yes, punitive damages, no
In a mixed victory for insured and insurers, the Supreme Court of Canada has jettisoned the more-than-century-old general principle that damages for mental distress are not available for commercial breaches of contract.
[More >>]
February 7, 2006
Supreme Court hearing challenge to B.C. law on Wednesday
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear arguments Wednesday on whether a B.C. law enacted in 2002 violates the rights of health care and community social services workers as guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
[More >>]
November 18, 2005
Gay bookstore can appeal to top court
A
Vancouver gay bookstore has been given the go-ahead to argue in front of
the Supreme Court of Canada that the government should fund its legal dispute
with Canada Customs.
[More >>]
October 31 , 2005
Notice of Class Action re: Closure of the Youbou Mill
[More >>] (126kb PDF)
May 14, 2005
Arvay Finlay represents BC's 400 Crown prosecutors in
historic lawsuit against the Province.
The
400 lawyers who represent the provincial government in court launched
a suit Friday in B.C. Supreme Court against their bosses.
[More >>] (187kb
PDF)
May 2, 2005
Arvay Finlay wins major case against the BC College of
Teachers for an error in failing to consider the requirement of a mental
element in addressing allegations of professional misconduct.
...they
failed to consider, or give adequate weight, to the role that his medical
condition of bipolar disorder, complicated by a change of medication,
played in his conduct.
[More >>]
April 27, 2005
Supreme Court to hear Charter challenge to B.C. law
The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear arguments on whether the
Gordon Campbell’s contract-breaking law violates the equality and
freedom of association rights of health care workers in British Columbia.
[More >>]
April 18, 2005
Joseph Arvay receives Reg Robson 2005 Award and
Arvay Finlay distinguished itself in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2005
Joseph Arvay received the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, "Reg
Robson 2005 Award" on March 31, 2005 for his long-standing work in the area of
civil liberties.
Arvay Finlay distinguished itself in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2005 where Joseph Arvay was "The Most Frequently Recommended Practitioner" in the area of Public Law Litigation in both Vancouver and Victoria. Mr. Arvay was, as well, identified as "Consistently Recommended As A Leading Practitioner in British Columbia" in the areas of Aboriginal Law, Class Action Litigation and Corporate/Commercial Litigation. Murray Rankin was likewise "Repeatedly Recommended as the Leading Practitioner in Victoria" in the area of Public Law Litigation.
March 15, 2005
Arvay Finlay Wins Right for Mill Workers to Sue Province
The Court of Appeal has decided that Youbou
mill workers will be able to sue the Province, in a class action, for
negligence leading to closure of the mill
[More >>]
February 3, 2005
Joseph Arvay delivers 26th annual Viscount Bennett Memorial Lecture at the University
of New Brunswick in Fredericton
On February 10, 2005 Arvay Finlay partner Joseph Arvay delivered the annual
Viscount Bennett Memorial Lecture at the University of New Brunswick. The
title of the lecture was "Confessions of a Social Justice Litigator:
Lessons Learned, Lessons Shared".
[More >>]
January 25, 2005
Girl gets $6.4-million for botched delivery at Nanaimo General
A seven-year-old girl has won a projected $6.4 million US in damages after
a botched delivery at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital left her severely
disabled.
[More >>]
November 10, 2004
Land Conservancy Wins Environmental Awards
Islanders Honoured for Human Rights Work
The Land Conservancy's outstanding work in protecting green space and
special places will be recognized with awards to both Board Chair Murray
Rankin and General Counsel Derek Ashurst, one of Victoria's few lawyers
focused on land conservancy.
[More >>]
October 15, 2004
Murray Rankin Elected Chair of The Land Conservancy
Bill Turner, Executive Director of TLC (The Land Conservancy of British
Columbia) is pleased to announce that Murray Rankin, QC has been elected
to the position of Chair. The election occurred at the Board meeting on
September 19th with Mr. Rankin taking office on October 13th.
[More >>]
August, 2004 - Bartalk
Equality and Diversity Award
Joseph J. Arvay, QC is the recipient
of this award, which celebrates the accomplishments of a lawyer who has
succeeded in advancing equality in the legal profession or generally in
B.C.
[More >>]
July 2, 2004 - Globe and Mail - Kirk Makin
Ottawa told to foot store's legal bills
A B.C. judge has ordered the federal government to pay a small Vancouver gay bookstore hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund a constitutional challenge to the power of Canadian customs to seize and censor imported material [More >>]
May 13, 2004
Arvay Finlay successful in obtaining
intervenor status for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association
before
the Arar Inquiry
After hearing submissions from Joe Arvay,
Q.C., Commissioner O’Connor agreed that the BCCLA offers a perspective
that will be of real assistance in the Inquiry.
[More >>]
May 7, 2004 - Times Colonist - Richard Watts
Laid-off mill workers get OK from court for class-action suit
A decision came down Thursday from the Supreme Court of B.C. allowing former sawmill worker Ken James, 52, of Duncan to launch a class-action suit against the provincial government.
James’ lawyer, Joe Arvay, said the decision was an important legal hurdle. [More >>]
March 14, 2004 - Times Colonist - Jim Gibson
What's Not To Like
Victoria's Marnie Crowe and Gabriola Island's Fred Greater could be poster children for the newly retired. They are among those setting the trend expected to be embraced by the 7.3 million baby boomers to follow over the next two decades. [More >>]
February 25, 2004 - CBC News
MSP privatization challenged
VICTORIA - The B.C. Government and Service Employees Union has gone to court in an effort to block the privatization of the Medical Services Plan by the provincial government. [More >>]
February 4, 2004 - Times Colonist - Times Colonist Staff
Deal struck to settle malpractice suit
A settlement has been reached in the lawsuit launched against some doctors,
nurses and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on behalf of a handicapped
girl.
Lawyer Joe Arvay said an agreement had been reached. The trial has now ended but the agreement is still subject to final approval from the court and the public trustee. [More >>]
February 3, 2004 - Times Colonist - Richard Watts
Little girl's future depends on ruling in malpractice suit
Joe Arvay, representing the Strachan family, said in his opening
statement that two of the doctors and the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital
have admitted liability in the case.
And the maximum amount, $290,000 in damages associated with pain and suffering has already been agreed, Arvay told the court. What is in dispute in the trial is the amount of money Sidney and her family will receive to help with her special care in the future. [More >>]
August 29, 2003 - The Globe and Mail - Alexandra Gill
Seattle’s coffee giant sued a 60-seat café; in doing
so, it locked horns with the entire Haida nation.
Rather than back down, HaidaBucks launched a massive Web campaign
and enlisted the support of Joseph Arvay, the Victoria based lawyer who
represented natives in a landmark 1997 Supreme Court case that established
the concept of aboriginal title.
"I don't think Starbucks knew what it was getting itself into," said Mr. Arvay, who is representing the Haida Nation in a land claim that seeks title to the entire Queen Charlotte Islands and the surrounding waters of the Hecate Strait.
"When they took on HaidaBucks, they took on, to some extent, the entire Haida Nation." [More >>]
May 16, 2003 - The Lawyers Weekly - Gary Oakes
B.C. Court of Appeal quashes common-law bar to same-sex marriages
The matter may well end up in the Supreme Court of Canada although Joe Arvay
of Victoria's Arvay Finlay, one of the counsel on the case, said there is
no need to go before the nation's highest court and that the appeal court's
decision should be accepted by all parties.
"It's time for the government to do the right thing and follow the order of the courts," Arvay told The Lawyers Weekly. [More >>]
December 21, 2002 - The National Post - Mark Hume and Janice Tibbetts
Ban on books unreasonable court rules
The Surrey School Board will revisit its ban of three "same-sex"
books after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled yesterday the decision to
keep the material out of classrooms was unreasonable.
To the teachers federation, however, the victory was complete - with lawyer Joe Arvay arguing it leaves no room for the school board to try to enact another ban.
"The Surrey School Board has absolutely no choice but to approve these books when they are brought before them," Mr. Arvay said. "I am completely and utterly thrilled with the result." [More >>]
