The Village of Fruitvale is joining B.C.'s bylaw adjudication program, allowing its residents who are involved in minor bylaw infractions to take their disputes to an independent adjudicator instead of dealing with them in a traditional courtroom.

The adjudication system allows for more efficient use of court resources by eliminating the roles of court and court registries in the administration and hearing of these disputes, saving local governments time and money.

Each jurisdiction determines which bylaws it would like included in the process. The Village of Fruitvale plans to use the system to enforce minor zoning, property maintenance, animal control, traffic, business license and anti-noise bylaws.

As part of an ongoing reform of the justice system, the B.C. government is increasing the number of alternative ways to resolve disputes, when appropriate, without requiring individuals to use the courts. Court alternatives help to reduce stress, shorten the time required to resolve disputes and ultimately cut costs for both the individual and taxpayer.

With the addition of the Village of Fruitvale, there are now 65 local governments using or developing the bylaw adjudication system.

Quotes:

Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton -

"The bylaw adjudication system is an innovative way of helping to improve the efficiency of our court operations by taking minor disputes out of the courtroom so they can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. This reduces pressures on the courts and frees up their time to deal with more pressing matters."

Village of Fruitvale Mayor Patricia Cecchini -

"Fruitvale strives to have co-operative compliance with our bylaws and the bylaw adjudication system will provide an accepted fair and cost-effective process for adjudication without removing the opportunity to work toward compliance. The bylaw adjudication system will ultimately result in fewer bylaw infractions and more timely, just resolutions to the contraventions that occur."

Quick Facts:

• Dispute adjudication issues range from parking tickets to dog licensing and minor zoning infractions.
• The City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver were the first in B.C. to establish a bylaw adjudication system as part of a 2004 pilot project.
• Individual municipalities track the number of bylaws managed by the adjudication process, and have screening officers who attempt to resolve disputes prior to the formal adjudication. The overall process has resolved and adjudicated several thousand matters since the inception of the program.
• Independent adjudicators are appointed by the Deputy Attorney General.
• The qualifications are prescribed in regulation and include:
• Experience as an adjudicator of disputes.
• Post-secondary training in adjudication.
• Successful completion of specialized bylaw dispute adjudication training.

Media Contact:

Lori DeLuca
Ministry of Justice
Government Communications and Public Engagement
250 953-3196