Already Making a Difference!

Transcription

1 cover story Wally Oppal, Attorney General of BC and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism: Photo credit: Already Making a Difference! With Val Wilson This highly capable man has served as our AG for only a year. I m a novice, he says. From this interview, it is clear he is on the right track for making a real difference in our province. The Scrivener: Please tell us about your childhood and where you spent your formative years. Wally: I was born in Vancouver, the son of immigrant parents who came from India. When I was 4, we moved to Vancouver Island to the Lake Cowichan area, west of Duncan, then to Duncan when I was 17. I have one brother. My father died when I was 10 and my mother raised us by going to work as a housekeeper. I went to school in Lake Cowichan. I wanted to play centrefield for the Cleveland Indians, but that didn t work out. They were my favourite team. The Scrivener: What did you want to be when you grew up? Wally: I wanted to play centre-field for the Cleveland Indians, but that didn t work out. They were my favourite team. The Scrivener: What was your very first job? Wally: Well, I worked in a lumber mill when I was going to high school and university to help finance my education. My son is now 17. A couple of years ago, he wanted to know if I had ever had a real job, like other people s dads. Yes, I used to work in a lumber mill, I said. What is a lumber mill? he asked. You know, they cut down trees, take them to the mill, and make lumber for housing and newsprint. Oh, he said. You were destroying the environment by chopping down trees. It is a different world today. Then I had another job. Actually, not many people know about this. The Scrivener: Outstanding! A scoop for The Scrivener! Wally: Right. When I was 17, I graduated from high school and attended broadcasting school to become a teenage disk jockey at a Nanaimo radio station. I did that for less than a year, then went to UBC. The Scrivener: What attracted you to the law? 36 The Scrivener Volume 15 Number 3 Fall 2006

2 Wally: I didn t know what career path I was going to take. I thought I would take either medicine or law but, because I didn t like the physical sciences, I applied to law school and got in. I articled for a Vancouver law firm that is no longer in existence the Schulman Tupper firm. John Laxton, a well-known lawyer, was my mentor at that time. When I was called to the bar, I left that firm to travel for 6 months with two friends. We started out in Japan; we ended up in England. Then I went to work for Thompson and McConnell, a firm with offices in Vancouver and White Rock. We did a lot of Crown work in the Fraser Valley where they did special prosecutions. I was fortunate to get on some rather high profile cases. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I left that firm along with a man named John Campbell, with whom I had gone to law school to establish our own law practice in South Vancouver. We practised law there for approximately 12 years. In 1982, I was appointed to what was then the County Court of British Columbia and in 1985, was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. In 2003, I went to the Court of Appeal, the highest court in the province. The Scrivener: Who were your mentors? Wally: Chief Justice Alan McEachern was a wonderful mentor. Pat Dohm, Associate Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, was a very dear and supportive friend. I had the benefit of working with some really great judges. Lloyd McKenzie, Al Mackoff, Craig Munroe, Alan Macfarlane, John Hall, Cathy Ryan, and Bruce Cohen are just some of the excellent people with whom I had the opportunity to work. The Scrivener: In May 2005, you won the Vancouver-Fraserview riding as a Liberal candidate. Please tell us about your transition from the bench to public life. Wally: After I was on the bench for approximately 22 years, Premier Campbell approached me to ask if I would be interested in public life. I had never run for public office before. I remember the day I resigned from the Court of Appeal. A press conference was called the same day to announce my candidacy in the last provincial election. I still recall the large throng of media people. One reporter asked how long I had been a member of the Liberal Party. About 45 minutes, I replied. When they asked if I had ever run for public office before, I said, Well, I was president of the students council in my high school, so I have plenty of experience. it gave me the opportunity to work with members of the community, with multicultural communities. The Scrivener: How was your campaign experience? Wally: I was treated very well. The media were friendly; the public was friendly. Even when I knocked on doors and took part in all-candidates meetings, it was a very positive experience. After I was elected, I was appointed Attorney General. The Scrivener: What was behind your decision to make such a big career change? Wally: I thought it was time for me to move on. I had been at all three levels of the court. I was a specialist in criminal law and felt privileged and honoured to have served in both the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal. I had the benefit of working with some very committed and competent people. It was a terrific experience for me. I wanted to do something else in my life. In the mid- 90s, the provincial government asked me to do a Royal Commission on Policing. We examined virtually every issue related to policing, including the selection methods of police officers and the promotion methods, the use of force, multiculturalism in policing, women in policing, public accountability of police, and Aboriginal policing. At the end of two-and-a-half years, we filed a report in government, entitled Closing the Gap. It is the last word in policing in Canada. I m proud to say that many of the Royal Commission s recommendations have gone into legislation and policy. In fact, I get many, many comments about it. The most recent one was this morning. I met with two members of the Vancouver City Police doing a research project; they had read the report. It is required reading in a number of universities. In the report, we recommended a process for resolving public complaints against the police and the establishment of an independent complaint commissioner who would oversee all complaints against the police. This was a key recommendation because the question of the police investigating themselves was perhaps the most important issue. As a result, the office of the Public Complaint Commission has now been established. As well, our policy recommendations have been followed regarding the police use of force, the types of guns the police should use, high-speed chases, neck restraints, women in policing, multiculturalism in policing, and Aboriginal policing. Most of all, it gave me the opportunity to work with members of the community, with multicultural communities. That whet my appetite to do things other than being a judge. The Scrivener: What are the main challenges of your work as Attorney General? Wally: The greatest challenges are the ever-present problems of street crime and the aura of the chronic offender. We in the Ministry have decided to follow the recommendations of the Street Crime Working Group, which concluded that over 80 percent of street crime is being committed by less than 10 percent of the people. Volume 15 Number 3 Fall 2006 The Scrivener 37

3 Most of the individuals committing these crimes are repeat offenders who are addicted to alcohol and/or drugs, suffering from mental illness, or homeless. We are going to establish a community court to proactively look at some of the root causes of why people are committing crimes. Those who are good candidates for rehabilitation would be treated immediately upon arrest so that they do not become repeat offenders. Our target date for creating the community court is 6 months. This method has been tried successfully in 27 different areas in the US in New York, particularly, where the community court started. We have examined many models. In Seattle, they have a mental health court, a drug court, and a community court. What it really means is that the criminal justice system must work within the community. We must all work together the health care system, the corrections, the police, and the courts. And the housing authorities, so we can have a wraparound approach. It is simply not good enough to keep channelling the same people into the courts over and over again. They go to jail, they come out, and they commit the same crimes. We want to get at some of the causes of crime. About 26 percent of the population of British Columbia is now foreignborn. Almost 50 percent of the City of Vancouver is now visible minority. There are many challenges in public life. The public has incredibly high expectations of what we do. We are soldiering onward. The Scrivener: Please tell us a bit about the multicultural makeup of our province. Wally: Our demographics have changed rapidly. About 26 percent of the population of British Columbia is now foreign-born. Almost 50 percent of the City of Vancouver is now visible minority. Asians make up around 50 percent of the population in Richmond. That means all our institutions including government, the police, the courts must keep up to the changing demographics and the changing makeup of the population. For instance, people who come here from Asia don t understand our justice system. We have to tell them about it and how they can access the system. Many people come from areas where the system is corrupt or people are expected to pay off the police. When I got out of law school, I remember defending an Asian man on a criminal charge. After I quoted him my fee, he said, How much for the judge? I said, Well, no, it doesn t work that way here. We must educate the public about our laws in Canada. We are also going into the schools. 38 The Scrivener Volume 15 Number 3 Fall 2006

4 I was involved in an organization called the Law Courts Education Society, a public legal education society that has developed a worldwide reputation for creative ways of going into communities and teaching people about access to justice. We have a huge challenge right now because members of the public don t have as much access to the system as they should the civil courts have become so expensive and so time-consuming. We must make the law more accessible. We are establishing self-help centres so people can help themselves in civil and criminal matters and family law. For instance, we have after-separation parenting courses that are compulsory. We want to remove the acrimony and some of the negative parts of the adversarial system in family law. We are working on that. We are also working with counsellors in the area of youth crime. In the Indo-Canadian community, just under 100 young Indo-Canadians have been killed over the last 15 years. We are very involved now with people in the Indo-Canadian community who are mentoring young kids at the high school level so they don t fall into gang activity. Premier Campbell is very supportive, as are other members of our Cabinet and Caucus. We want to include multiculturalism in all parts of government so that multiculturalism is not just a ministry in and of itself. The Scrivener: Do you miss the courtroom? Wally: Yes, I miss the courtroom and I miss the people. I miss the people in the courthouses, the court registries, the sheriffs, and the police. They are just great. But I knew it was time for me to do something else; I wanted to do something else in my life. I m fortunate that Premier Campbell gave me this opportunity. The Scrivener: What is your goal for multiculturalism in British Columbia? Wally: We want to include multiculturalism in all parts of government so that multiculturalism is not just a ministry in and of itself. With the Olympics approaching and so much happening in British Columbia, we must ensure that all of our government and all of our institutions become inclusive and that we address and combat racism, and in particular deal with the plights of Aboriginal people. I m very concerned about those things. When I speak of working with Aboriginal people, I m talking in context of my role as Attorney General in the Justice portfolio. Why, for example, is there a disproportionate number of Aboriginal people in jails? I really want to work with that and do something about it. Volume 15 Number 3 Fall 2006 The Scrivener 39

5 Those are some of the reasons I came into government. The toughest part of this job is trying to find enough hours in the day to do all the things that need to be done. The Scrivener: Have you had time for community service? Wally: Yes. I have been involved in the Board of Directors of Family Services and was President of Law Courts Education Society. I was on the Board of the court reporters and court interpreters and served on various criminal law committees and the National Criminal Law Program. I am also a former member of the advisory committee of the Law Reform Commission in Canada. The Scrivener: That s a significant contribution of time! Do you have other interests? Wally: I m a baseball fan and a basketball fan. I still play basketball with a group of lawyers and cops and various other people. We play a couple of times a week. And I work out physically. I belong to Fitness World. I also coached in the Steve Nash basketball league where my son played. I believe that if we had put family first 20 years ago, we wouldn t have as many of the young people coming into the courts. The Scrivener: What is most important to you in life? Wally: My family is the most important. I have two children. My son Josh just turned 17 yesterday and my daughter Jasmine is 23. The Scrivener: Remember 20 years ago, when business professionals were expected to put their job ahead of family? Wally: Yes, I know. Not anymore, though. I believe that if we had put family first 20 years ago, we wouldn t have as many of the young people coming into the courts. If we want crime prevention, we really must get involved with our youth. The courts deal with people when it is too late, after the crime has been committed. We must become involved before the crime takes place. The Scrivener: That could make a very big difference! What is your greatest career achievement to date? Wally: I can tell you the greatest pride is coming from immigrant parents and a family that had nothing, to being appointed to the highest court in the province, and then being appointed Attorney General. When I was growing up, with an immigrant mother raising us, if someone had told me I would be a judge on the Supreme Court or that I would be the Attorney General of the province, I would have thought it was easier to go to the moon. It has been a thrill to get here and, along the way, to meet so many good people. s Thanks to Irene Fix of Charest Reporting for transcribing this interview. (September 18, 2006) 40 The Scrivener Volume 15 Number 3 Fall 2006