APPEALS COURT STRIKES DOWN SAFETY INSPECTION BYLAW

Pitt Meadows plans to continue operating its Public Safety Inspection
Program, despite an appeals court ruling this week that a similar
program breaks the law.

Mayor Don MacLean says the city will continue to conduct inspections
on residences with abnormally high energy usage until the program is
challenged. The program was introduced in 2007 to reduce the number
of marijuana grow operations in the city. Under the program,
occupants are given 24 hours notice before a bylaw officer,
electrical inspector, fire personnel and members of the RCMP search
the premises. The property owner is fined $3,000 if evidence of a
marijuana grow-op is found.

"It's been successful," he said, pointing out that the city has not
only found homes with illegal grow-ops, but also those with faulty
wiring - a fire hazard.

"It's a safety program. When it comes to family and well-being, I
think that that is No. 1 and should really take precedence over
whether the courts feel criminals should have more rights."

The city's legal team has reviewed the program and it's "passed the
test," MacLean added.

The B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously decided that Surrey's Electrical
Fire and Safety Initiative violates the basic rights of residents
guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"There is a "hierarchy of places," atop of which is the home.
Importantly for our purposes, the hierarchy decreases in the level of
expected privacy as one moves from the home to the perimeter space
around the home, to commercial space, to private cars, to schools,
and then, at the bottom, to prisons," Chief Justice Lance Finch wrote
in the finding, adding the searches undertake are extremely invasive.

"They involve walking through the entire residence, searching
electrical panels, and very involved searches of attic spaces, and
crawl spaces."

Finch noted in his finding that while law allows local inspectors to
examine electrical wiring, in this case "they infringe the
appellants' rights under s. 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

Section 8 of the Charter protects the public from unreasonable search
and seizure.

- - with files from Kevin Diakiw