In Their Name

Each year since his daughter Melissa was killed on the Coquihalla Highway, Hideki Mimura has flown back to Canada to attend the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims and One Crash is Too Many event in Kelowna (2017, 2018, 2019). He's met with two consecutive mayors in Merritt and other politicians, pleading with them to make BC's roads safer and for the province to modernize its wrongful death laws. In November 2019, one of our Society's volunteers flew to Yokoha...ma, Japan on his own dime to meet with the Mimura family so they could tell their story. The video and their story will be launching April 2, 2021. Stay tuned.

"On September 10, 2016, my son Logan passed away as a result of a motor vehicle accident caused by an impaired driver. Logan was a Grade 12 honours student at Dawson Creek Secondary, a well-liked young man starting the rest of his life and preparing for a career in engineering. That day, the car Logan was riding in rolled into a ditch along the road. He suffered from injuries and passed away three hours later in the hospital. There were also three other children in the vehicl...e who were also injured. The driver was intoxicated and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving. There is no justification for driving while impaired. Over the years, Logan’s case made little progress through our court system. Our opinion shared by manyis that the so-called justice was not only a joke but more of an insult. ...The only response from ICBC was that my son has no value to them and expenses incurred would not be re-reimbursed over $2,500 for funeral costs, which in actuality for our family ended up amounting to over $20,000. I found this appalling. ICBC cannot be sued in the event of wrongful death, unlike every other province where there is compensation for damages under the law. If you have someone who has no financial dependents, then ICBC does not put a value on your loss of life. ...Until you lose someone, and wrongfully, with no access to justice, you don’t know what we go through. ...We have been unjustly deprived of the opportunity to see our son continue to grow up into the amazing young man that he was becoming. We will never receive his companionship, love, affection, and all of life’s shared special moments. They have been forever taken from us. ...Our court system insulted our family. The idea that our children have no value is absurd. The law, which is supposed to protect us, did the complete opposite. We as a society have failed if we accept our current rules. We deserve better than this. Why is it that the people who make the rules are not listening? We have a right to be heard, and they have an obligation to listen and take action. Our government only looks at this from a financial point of view. It is clear that they don’t see or care about the people who are left damaged." - Terry, father of Logan Power Watch the video, read the full story, and petition your MLA with our automated tool in only 30 seconds - https://intheirname.ca/our-stories/logan/

We’re pleased to share that MLA Doug Routley of Nanaimo-North Cowichan has come out in support of his constituent Sharon Andersen and our Society’s goals to modernize BC's wrongful death laws! Literally, every NDP MLA in the province could write this same letter of support to the Attorney General Minister David Eby. Call your MLA and ask them to do the same. ... This is the type of "political will" that we need to continue building to get this critical work done! Thank you again to MLA Doug Routley and the staff at his constituency office for making this commitment! https://intheirname.ca//doug-routley-writes-letter-to-att/

"Shirley May Lamb was my same-gender life partner. She was a kind, intelligent, and resourceful woman who loved life and was active in a range of activities: gardening, baking, swimming, camping, etc. She did these things and more while living with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and being legally blind due to macular degeneration. She was described as a young 81 and was an activist for women, LGBTQ+, the disabled community, and seniors. ...I’m a doctorally-p...Continue reading

CKPG News ended up making modernizing BC's wrongful death laws into a 2-part story where in the second part they featured the launch of the Public Service Announcement. Really appreciate Randi-Marie Adams and CKPG's great coverage, Shelly James for her advocacy, Ann Forry, Joe Lafleur, and Kristian Andresen for putting the PSA together, the families, and the entire volunteer crew for contributing to this incredibly powerful project. We can do this British Columbia!

Great coverage by CKPG News regarding the tragic death of Chelsea James and the family's fight to modernize BC's wrongful death laws and prevent the same type of tragedies from happening to others. Thank you to Randi-Marie Adams for putting this news story together. Thank you to Chelsea's mother, Shelly for being such a strong advocate for the movement.

BREAKING! Vancouver City Councillor, Pete Fry, put forth a motion for the Union of BC Municipalities to recommend to the province that our wrongful death laws be modernized so as to provide a foundation of worth under the law for everyone in the province of BC. The motion has since passed with a unanimous decision with all in favour!... A foundation of "worth" or "value" of human life would allow for access to justice, accountability to wrongdoers, and for us to prevent future wrongful deaths in the first place through financial deterrence. BC is still presently the last of all provinces where only people who meet the discriminatory criteria of having both an income and dependents have worth under the law. This especially affects vulnerable groups such as children, seniors, the disabled, and populations such as our first nations disproportionately. This will be a huge leap forward in enshrining human rights and legislative protections for the citizens of BC. Step 1 The motion starts off at the local city council level - PASSED! Step 2 The motion will now be heard next at the Lower Mainland Local Government Association Step 3 When passed at the LMLGA, it is then taken to the Union of BC Municipalities Conference, and when passed there the recommendation is made to the province! This will be an amazing coordinated grass roots effort across the province in education and awareness. It will support the much needed "political will" to move this forward. Thank you so much again to Vancouver City Councillor Pete Fry for bringing this initiative forward and to all the speakers who came out in support! Learn more - https://intheirname.ca//motion-to-recommend-to-the-provinc

We have some really exciting news! Vancouver City Councillor Pete Fry has put forth a motion for the Union of BC Municipalities to recommend to the province that our wrongful death laws be modernized so as to provide a foundation of "worth" under the law for everyone in of BC. A foundation of "worth" or "value" of human life would allow for access to justice, accountability to wrongdoers, and for us to prevent future wrongful deaths in the first place through financial deter...rence. BC is still presently the last of all provinces where only people who meet the discriminatory criteria of having both an income and dependents have worth under the law. This especially affects vulnerable groups such as children, seniors, the disabled, and populations such as our first nations disproportionately. This will be a huge leap forward for enshrining human rights and legislative protections for the citizens of BC. Step 1 The motion starts off at the local city council level Step 2 When passed at the local council level, it is then escalated to the Lower Mainland Local Government Association Step 3 When passed at the LMLGA, it is then taken to the Union of BC Municipalities Conference, and when passed there the recommendation is made to the province! This will be an amazing coordinated grass roots effort across the province in education and awareness. It will provide the much needed "political will" to move this forward. Tune in today to watch the livestream for step 1 of the process at Vancouver City Hall, 9:30AM Wednesday February 10, 2021. https://intheirname.ca//vancouver-city-councillor-pete-fr/

My Dad, Gary, was in emergency at Royal Columbian Hospital. He went there because he had an aneurism in his groin. He was there quite a long timea couple of monthshe developed a bedsore, and they sent him over to Langley Memorial and then, while in Langley, his bedsore got much worse. ...Thereafter, he continued to suffer severe neglect at a place called Cedar Hill. He was septic. His whole back was black. You could see his spine. They finally did a skin graft on him back ...at the hospital, fixed him up, and then sent him back to Cedar Hill. Then his legs started to rot and they eventually had to amputate both his legs. One day with my Daughter and my Son, we went to go visit him and he was crying. He was crying so hard. My Dad was shaking at me and says, ‘Rita, come, come quick. It’s that nurse. The nurse is too rough with me.’ He was being treated pretty rough. After that, I received another call; he’s bleeding from the groin and the wound care nurse that’d been treating him, she said, ‘Get a lawyer. What’s happened to your Dad is just atrocious; the treatment that he’s getting.’ So I tried to get her to put it in writing but because of the job and everything, she couldn’t. I finally got my Dad out of that environment and into another place where he began putting on weight and was doing great. And then I went on holidays and it was during the worst heatwave we’ve hadI think it was forty-two degrees. The care home didn’t have a fan or air conditioning and my Dad supposedly died of pneumonia but we were first told it was heatstroke. I went to go visit the people that were in his room with him. They talked to him and had all become friends. All four of them had died in the same week period. Throughout this entire ordeal, my Dad suffered. He was starved. He was neglected. He had bedsores beyond belief. It was one of the worst cases of senior abuse, and the RCMP was disgusted how badly my Dad was treated. And yet, had this happened in my home, I would have been arrested. But because he was in a care facility, they are protected and they get away with it. This needs to change. So that’s why I wanted to be involved with The BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society. We need to change the legislation because what’s been in place allows the abusers to keep on abusing. In my mind, the law protects them. - Rita, Daughter of Gary Davis Watch the 3 minute video of the entire story and petition your MLA in under 30 seconds with our automated tool - https://intheirname.ca/our-stories/gary/

On May 10, 2006, my mother had a routine laser cataract surgery. At the post-surgery appointment on Thursday, May 18, the doctor said that the surgery had been a success, and that her eye was healing nicely. However, by Sunday May 21, her eye became irritated, sore and swollen. When she woke up the next day, it was much worse she felt more pain, and when she touched that side of her face, she described the sensation as raw, like an open wound. When she returned to the cl...Continue reading

Everyone! In case you missed the Tuff City Radio Live Interview With MLA Mike de Jong, Ann Forry, and 'In Their Name' - BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society President Michael-James Pennie, here is the replay! This indie radio station isn’t beholden to the corporate interests of the mainstream media and government. They conduct hard hitting investigative journalistic interviews with contrarian guests and they don’t pull any punches. ... Expect the gloves to come off with the questions asked and nothing to be left on the table. Enjoy! https://intheirname.ca//replay-of-the-tuff-city-radio-live

Tune in Live Monday February 1, 2021 9AM PST! Tuff City Radio that broadcasts locally in Tofino, BC and streams online worldwide will be interviewing BC Opposition Attorney General Critic Mike de Jong, Ann Forry (Natasha’s Mom), and BC Wrongful Death Law Reform Society President Michael-James Pennie, beginning at 9 AM PST, Monday, February 1, 2021! It’s going to be a thought provoking interview on the politics of modernizing these laws and you will not want to miss it!...Continue reading