Lawyer avoids parking ticket
Judge cites unreasonable delays; city says its hamstrung by GNWT rules
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, May 21, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife defence lawyer avoided paying a $50 parking ticket after he successfully argued it took the city too long to take the matter to court on Friday.
Serge Petitpas alleged the city took too long to accommodate his need for a French-language trial.
But Kerry Penney, the city's only lawyer, says many of the delays were caused by ineffective legislation from the territorial government.
Out of the 51 weeks it took Petitpas' matter to go to trial, Penney said only about seven of those can be directly attributed to a language issue.
The $50 ticket was slapped on Petitpas' vehicle May 22, 2013 at the Yellowknife Primary Care Centre, the city alleged.
His first court appearance wasn't set until Jan. 14.
In her decision, Judge Christine Gagnon said the amount of time it took to get Petitpas' matter to a first appearance in court, combined with the city's difficulties in accommodating a French language trial, led her to believe Petitpas' case was not tried in a reasonable amount of time.
On Friday, she stayed the ticket against Petitpas.
"The decision was really frustrating for us. We're working within the legislation that we've been given," Penney told Yellowknifer.
Legislation logjam
Under GNWT legislation, city parking tickets are not considered legal documents. In order to set a court date, proper documents must be first sworn before a Justice of the Peace in court, then hand delivered to the motorist.
The process can take months, so it's city policy to set the first court appearance about six months in advance from the date of the ticket, the court heard Friday.
"If we could put a parking ticket on your window and that was considered proper service that would be great," Penney told Yellowknifer.
In most other jurisdictions in Canada, parking tickets, like speeding tickets, serve as legal documents requiring those served to attend court if they don't intend to pay.
The city has been negotiating with the GNWT for the past two to three years on the issue, but Penney said the government hasn't given it any priority.
This means a large part of a bylaw officer's day can be taken up hand-delivering court summons to residents, even though notices of violation have already been posted on vehicles.
"There's only so many (bylaw) officers," said Petitpas.
"I don't think any member of the public would prefer that rather than . . . checking speeding in school zones."
Petitpas told Yellowknifer he's pleased with the judge's decision, but declined to comment further.
Penney said it's disappointing the city wasn't able to prosecute the case, noting it involved a medical clinic where parking is in high demand.
"There's no prejudice, no loss of evidence, no jeopardy to the defendant. It would be good to get a decision on the parking ticket itself."
Penney said the city shouldn't have trouble prosecuting French-language cases in the future, since it has a bilingual bylaw officer on staff. But until the GNWT legislation is changed, she said the city will have to work on getting people to court sooner.
