The owner of a Prince George nightclub is once again at odds with the B.C. Attorney General over whether a trial for allegedly violating two COVID-era tickets should be heard in French.
Roughly a month after Provincial Court Judge Martin Nadon tried and convicted Learn to Earn Bartending and Consulting Inc. of contravening the COVID-19 Related Measures Act, the business filed on April 12 a petition in B.C. Supreme Court seeking to have the verdict set aside largely over the same reasons it had posed in a similar petition filed back in June 2023.
The tickets were issued by Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch in September 2021 for "dancing and congregating" at what was then known as Lambda Cabaret and now known as Club 1177. Upon reaching the verdict on March 11, Nadon levied the minimum fine against Learn to Earn of $2,300 for each ticket.
In the petition, Learn to Earn contends that contrary to Nadon's finding prior to the trial, the business is entitled to have the trial heard in French in accordance with the Criminal Code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Learn to Earn also contends the judge breached the business's Charter rights by refusing to allow it to be represented by a non-lawyer agent.
For a time, Ontario-based lawyer Saron Gebresellassi represented Learn to Earn, but has since been unable to do so because of a conflict with the B.C. Law Society. Learn to Earn's latest petition is unsigned and states counsel is "to be assigned."
In a response filed May 13, counsel for the Attorney General maintains the petition is inadequate in part because it lacks supporting affidavit evidence and lacks particulars explaining the basis of it claims. The Attorney General's response is backed by a 221-page affidavit while no affidavits accompany Learn to Earn's petition.
The action Learn to Earn has taken amounts to a "collateral attack and an abuse of process," the Attorney General alleges, and notes the first petition was dismissed by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Marguerite Church in September 2023.
A month later, Learn to Earn subsequently filed an appeal of that decision but has taken no further steps to pursue the matter, according to the Attorney General. It also states the B.C. Court of Appeal, not B.C. Supreme Court, is the proper venue to challenge Church's decision.
None of the allegations has yet been tested in court.
Meanwhile, in a separate action, Learn to Earn is pursuing a so-called Jordan application over whether the trial that ended with the fines was heard within a reasonable time. A hearing on that matter is scheduled for June 12.
