British Columbia

Community activists Bruce Yorke and
David Fairey have been turned down in
their attempts to launch mass appeals of
skyrocketing residential property assess-
ments — by a process Yorke calls “a
farce.”

Panels of- the B.C. Assessment
Authority’s court of revision rejected the
appeals in sessions in Vancouver Nov. 14
and Burnaby Nov. 15, accepting lawyer
John Savage's argument that legislation
and a B.C. Supreme Court decision
barred such appeals by individuals. —

But Yorke is preparing to continue the

Authority appeal board, while Fairey
will take his case to Burnaby municipal
council.

Some 40 property owners packed the

40 others were turned away. Emotions
ran high when, after hearing a 40-minute
submission from Assessment Authority
lawyer Savage, court chairman Doug
Little interrupted Yorke’s submission.

Savage argued that the Act governing
the assessments limits mass appeals to
the provincial finance minister and
municipal governments. Yorke coun-
tered that the authority actively discour-
ages appeals and that indivjduals who
attempt to do so with little knowledge of
rience.

“People are pleased that someone is
prepared to do battle (on their behalf)
against an uncaring bureaucracy,” he
stated.

In a presentation punctuated by
arguments with Little, who complained
that Yorke was presenting the substance
of his appeal rather than arguing the
validity of his right to the appeal itsélf,
Yorke charged: “This court is a stacked
deck.”

At one point in the proceedings Van-
couver resident Wong Schuck exploded
in frustration over Little’s remarks. He
was ordered ejected by Little and was
dragged from his chair to the floor by
security guards. When he refused to
move, Little rescinded the order on the
grounds that Schuck make no further
outbursts.

Attempts by Yorke to make appeals
on behalf of 52 residents who signed a
petition against their assessment hikes,
and to launch a mass appeal through the
Committee of Progressive Electors, were
rejected. Later that afternoon the court
of revision rejected Yorke’s appeal
attempt.

Yorke said later that the court of revi-

fight with at the B.C. Assessment.

Vancouver session Monday, while about _

the system face “‘a fairly traumatic expe- -

Assessment battle
continues after mass
_appeals rejected

Bruce Yorke argues case with court of revision chair Doug Little on Monday.

sion, a quasi-judicial body, is a group of
political appointees. He noted one panel
member, Jim McLean, is president of the
Lower Mainland Social Credit consti-

tuency associations. Little, a former
Vancouver alderman with the Non-
Partisan Association, was ironically
defeated in the 1980 election which voted
in Yorke, a member of the Committee of
Progressive Electors,-on to council.

On Thursday, Yorke appealed the 50-
per cent assessment hike of a west side
resident before a different court of revi-
sion. He said the panel listened with
courtesy and obvious interest but
declined to change the assessment on the
grounds that it would set a precedent and
be unfair to other, uncontested assess-
ments. ‘

Yorke said later he was “disappointed
that the court did not have the courage of
its convictions” but that he would pro-
ceed to the higher, more authoritative,
Assessment Appeal Board.

The substance of Yorke’s and Fairey’s
appeals is that skyrocketing assessments
in Vancouver and Burnaby are the result
of rampant land speculation. By consid-
ering only the market value of residential
properties, the Assessment Authority is
forcing hardship on many homeowners
with fixed or low incomes, they say,
pointing out that the Act allows the
authority to consider other factors than
market value.

Fairey, arguing before court of revi-
sion members Edward Burnham (court
chair and a former president of the
Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board),
Gillan Hewitt and Clifford Lae, was also
rebuffed in his attempt to launch an
appeal on behalf of 576 homeowners on
Tuesday. Savage, accompanied by area
assessor Harry Jones, made the same
arguments, adding the defeat of Yorke’s
appeal the previous day to his submis-
SIONS
Fairey said he will take his case to
Burnaby municipal council Nov. 28. A
week earlier the council adopted a
motion circulated by North Vancouver
district council urging the provincial
government to cap residential property
assessments at 20 per cent increases. The
motion noted that Finance Minister Mel
Couvelier has done that for industrial
and commercial properties.

Fairey will ask council to either file a

mass appeal with the court of revision or
call on the provincial government to
change the legislation prohibiting indi-
viduals from launching such appeals.

2 Pacific Tribune, November 21, 1988

Kamloops mother heads

welfare cuts campaign

Two weeks ago, when Kamloops unem-
ployed advocate Sharon Pickering met with
Social Services and Housing Minister.
Claude Richmond to protest the latest $50"
cut in welfare, Richmond’s reply was pre-
dictable: the welfare program he had insti-
tuted was “working well” and he was
adamant that benefits would not be
increased.

But he also told Pickering that the major-
ity of people on welfare “were happy” and
only those few “whose priorities weren’t
straight” weren’t able to provide for their
needs.

“That was the final straw,” said Picker-
ing.

In the two weeks since, the mother of two
has launched a mass petition against the
latest welfare cut and is appealing to welfare
recipients all over the province to send her
letters outlining their situation and asking
that the cuts be rescinded.

“T’m acting as a lobby group for welfare

recipients,” Pickering told the Tribune .

Monday, adding that she has already
received 700 letters, although the campaign
has only just begun. The petition will
demand that Richmond rescind the ‘latest
$50 cut for those reclassified as employable
and also reinstate their medical coverage.

-“The letters are a catalogue of what it is
like to live on welfare in this province — the
problems people have in getting crisis
grants, the problems they have in putting
enough food on the table for their kids and
giving them adequate clothing for the sea-
son,” she said.

“Richmond has said that people are
‘happy’ on welfare and that it wouldn’t do

any good to raise the minimum wage.
“But ’'m going to prove through these
letters that this is not the case — and
maybe we can get the policy changed,” she
declared. i

Pickering said that Richmond’s com-
ments were also the “final kick in the teeth”
for personal reasons. In March, her hus-
band, Steve, committed suicide after his’
layoff put the family back on welfare.

“We'd been on and off social assistance
for seven years because of unemployment |
and then last summer, we found ourselves
back on again,” she said. “And for six
months Steve just got steadily more
depressed when he couldn’t find work and
couldn’t provide for his family.

“He thought the two girls and I would be
better off if he was gone.”

Pickering, who now volunteers in the
Kamloops Unemployment Action Centre,
was in Vancouver this week to raise het
appeal here and plans to travel to other
centres as finances permit.

In her appeal, she is asking that thos¢
sending letters enclose $1 wherever possible
to help defray travel costs. So far, she said,
about half have done so, enabling her to
make the trip to Vancouver as well as tO
help cover costs for planned visits to Prince
George and Prince Rupert.

“Tf we can even get 10 per cent of people
on welfare to send letters, it could make 4
difference in getting the policy changed,”
she said.

Letters should be sent to: Sharon Picker-
ing, B21 — 7155 Trans Canada Highway,
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 4T1.

GAIN cutbacks challenged

Two families who face a $50 cut to their
welfare benefits have filed separate actions
in court, and End Legislated Poverty spokes-
man Pat Chauncey urges all recipients
affected to appeal the cutback.

Some 20,000 GAIN recipients lost part of
their benefits when the ministry of social
services and housing changed the definition
of “unemployable” earlier this year. The
change, which also cuts subsidized medical
benefits for some of those people, came into
effect last month.

Chauncey said recipients have only days

’ to file an appeal, which has been rejected by

some welfare offices. She advised those fac-
ing rejection to contact an advocate. A
recipient has 30 days from the last
payment — in this case, Oct. 23 or 24 — to
appeal. ert

Chauncey said hundreds of recipients
have been phoning ELP and other agencies
seeking information on the cutbacks, and
estimates that at least one third of those
people will appeal. Social Services Minister
Claude Richmond has been claiming the
cutback cannot be appealed, but anti-
poverty organizations disagree.

On Nov. 10 Anita Archembault and her
two daughters petitioned the B.C. Supreme
Court for an order to force the ministry to
comply “with its own GAIN Act and regu-
lations,” an ELP press release states. The
ministry refused to accept Archembault’s
appeal which was launched under regula-

tions which stipulate the right to appeal and —

to retain current benefits while the appeal is
being considered.

Meanwhile Deborah Peletier, mother of
four children, petitioned the court under
Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights
and Freedoms. The section governs right of
liberty and security of person.

Peletier is represented by David Mossop
of the Vancouver Community Legal Assist-
ance Society and Archembault has retained
Carolyn McCool of the Legal Services
Society.

Chauncey noted that Richmond had
promised a review of each case before
reductions were implemented. “To oul
knowledge, no reviews were done before the
cuts and now people are being told there is
no appeal.”

Chauncey said some social workers and
welfare claims workers have advised that
appeals are allowed, while others have not.
But she-urged all affected recipients to
appeal their case before the deadline at the
end of this week. She said a class action suit
is being considered.

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