The Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) long, drawn-out battle with former Regional Director Noba Anderson appears to be over. On January 24 of this year, the BC Court of Appeal ruled the SRD was wrong to not pay Anderson’s defence costs during a litigation brought against her in 2019. The three judge panel also found they were wrong to censure Anderson for showing confidential documents to her lawyer. The SRD filed for leave to appeal this judgement. On Thursday, August 29, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed their request and awarded costs to Anderson.
At the March 27th meeting of the Strathcona Regional District Board, a couple of items affecting Cortes were on the agenda. Decisions were taken with regard to funding for our community halls, and equipment for our volunteer fire department.
On January 24th the BC Court of Appeal made known its decision in docket CA47620, the case of Anderson vs SRD. The three-judge panel found unanimously against SRD and in favour of Anderson. They found that SRD was wrong in refusing to indemnify Anderson’s defence costs during a litigation against her in 2019, and wrong also in voting to censure her in that same year.
In this four-part special radio feature we’ll be revisiting the five-year history of this legal decision, and interviewing Noba Anderson about its significance — not just for Cortes island, but for all of BC.
Editor’s note: The following report comes from someone who is not a lawyer, not familiar with legal terminology and will most likely change after written court documents with the correct terminology becomes available.
Why should Cortes Islanders care about a private legal dispute? Because this litigation has implications and consequences for all Area B residents. If SRD succeeds in court, it could set a precedent instantly rendering many Cortes properties non-compliant which have previously been legal. SRD has re-interpreted the language of the zoning bylaw in a new way, outside the traditional understanding of the community and of SRD’s own planners.
