Diplomatic Immunity, Parking Immunity, and Legal Aid Funding

Legally Speaking with Michael MulliganDiplomatic Immunity – The wife of a US diplomat killed a British teenager in a car accident but was able to avoid prosecution and leave the UK as a result of diplomatic immunity. Topics discussed include the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and how this is implemented in Canada.Other related issued include diplomats not having to pay parking tickets, how diplomats suspected of impaired driving are dealt with in Canada, and immunity from having to pay for parking in Victoria, BC for a list of people including vehicles bearing the flag or insignia of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia or the Senior Officer commanding the Canadian Armed Forces on Vancouver Island. Interestingly, as section 71 (11) of the City of Victoria Streets and Traffic Bylaw is drafted, the immunity from having to pay for parking doesn’t seem to be restricted to the actual Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia or the Senior Officer commanding the Canadian Armed Forces on Vancouver Island, but rather appears to apply to any vehicle bearing one of their flags or insignias. Also discussed is a recent agreement between the Government of BC, and the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers to modestly increase what legal aid lawyers are paid. The increase in pay is still much less than what the government pays lawyers doing prosecution, or other government work.While the Government of BC will still be diverting more than half the funds raised every year from a special tax that was intended to fund legal aid, the recognition of the Association of Legal Aid Lawyers as a bargaining agent for lawyers doing this work may result in future improvements for a long underfunded system. Legally Speaking is live on CFAX 1070 every Thursday at 10:30am. Follow this link for a transcript of the show.