Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 24, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Lawyers claim complaints Are part of Legal practice by Steve Pona a Winnipeg Man who has been advertising against allegedly unfair Legal practices by some Manitoba lawyers says he has received More than 200 Calls and letters Many in support from people across the province. John Koshurba a Railroad Mechanic who Heads the newly formed Citi Zens Legal advisory committee said people have been complaining about Legal fees and their lawyers conduct in everything from House deals to divorce actions and criminal cases. A lot people Are afraid of our Legal system and Don t understand said Koshurba 48. And there is no one to help. They find themselves Between the Devil and the deep Blue Koshurba whose last advertise ment appeared in the free press this month said he is petitioning the legislature for a Bill giving his three member committee the Power to set standards for lawyers and to have the courts Deal with negligence misrepresentation and fraud a Job being handled by the Manitoba Law society. Responsive chord Koshurba has touched a responsive chord. The letters he has received reveal a sense of frustration and resentment with the Legal system. According to lawyers and other experts however complaints seem to go hand in hand with Legal practice. While some complaints Are justified they say others Are More often the result of poor communication or hard feelings. Anti lawyer ism is almost As deeply entrenched As anti semitism and almost As said Dale Gibson a Law professor at the University of Manitoba. He said there Are a lot of reasons for it. Lawyers often have to Deal in secrecy. Trust is placed in their hands so they Are in a very sensitive kind of position. When occasionally somebody Breaks it there is intense As Well he added the lawyer s Talent is to use every sort of verbal trick and so on on behalf of their client. Although it s on behalf of their client it s always against somebody else so a lot of resentment hangs on Anita Neville a Law society Bencher said if you Are my lawyer and you lose a Case for me i am going to be mad at you particularly if you Send me a big lawyer Hymie Weinstein who lec Tures bar admission students said in criminal cases the key is the Way you Deal with your clients Early on by not trying to predict the outcome of cases with certainty and letting them know what you plan to do and what is going to be approximate fact of life but occasionally he said you Are going to get a client that no matter what you do for him he is still going to complain. That s a fact of last year the Law society which governs Manitoba s More than lawyers received 300 complaints. Secretary Graeme Garson said penalties were assessed in 16 cases. He noted that during the same period there were a million or More Legal transactions in the province. I would like to know the profession that has got a better Standard of Quality of service than he said. The society has just established a standards committee the first of its kind in Canada. It will have the Power to investigate incompetence and recommend disciplinary action. Garson said in an interview there have been complaints about incompetence in the past but until the new committee was officially created the society was powerless to Deal with them. Now perhaps we could go to the Root causes of the problems. The society is considering a change in rules to enable two non lawyers to sit on the committee. Rules passed last Winter require All members to have practising certificates. There is a very Strong feeling that there must and should be Lay benches on Garson said. Expertise needed he said the majority of committee members would still be lawyers to assure the lawyer who is being judged on competence matters that he is not being judged by a majority of Lay benches who really Don t have the background or four of the society s 36 benches Are Lay members appointed from among the general Public. Two of them Neville and Ian Suth Erland were appointed to the Stan Dards committee last fall but will not officially become members until the Rule is changed. Garson said Lay representation gives the Public a window into the activities of the society and in turn provides it with an Arm s length non lawyer input into the problem at in other words if you Are a lawyer for 20 years your View of the matter May be somewhat More narrow in so far As the Legal consuming Public is concerned. It gives us a better bal Ance and indicates what it s like to be on the receiving end of inadequate Legal Garson said. Gibson said when you have Lay people who Don t have an axe to grind and Are there to observe then at least the Public s fears about what May go on behind the society s closed doors can be somewhat Allee eat Neville a Mother of three and a Volunteer coordinator with Winnipeg school division said to prepare her self for the standards committee she has done a Little bit of Reading on professional ethics and she added that having been a Lay member for years it s mostly what you Are and what you bring to it your own personal making a decision but when it comes to the judg ment of the Legal aspects you have to defer to the Legal knowledge of the others then based on the discussion you use your own Intelli gence and try to come to a she said. Gibson said ethical cases almost Al ways involve a matter of degree. The lawyer is often pulled one Way and the other by competing considerations. He s got a duty to his client he s got a duty to the court he s got a duty to the Public generally. I Don t see Why a Lay person can t have a significant role to play in deciding whether a lawyer has pro Perly balanced those competing in Lay representatives Are appointed by a four member committee which includes the attorney general. Neville said she was startled by her appointment to her first two year term in May 1978. I was unsure of myself i did t know what was involved. 1 found in discussions that there was a history to so Many of the issues that came up. It took me a Good while to feel comfortable with Winnipeg free press Friday april 3 free press Tlach hot dog this hot dog in t for Sale. Good thing too because it would be quite a task getting it in a Bun. Ryan a four year old Irish setter hot dogs it with owner Elaine Vandevyvere during break in dog show at Polo Park. Make work program going ahead land buy studied the acquisition of land at Shoal Lake May answer some of Winnipeg s water Supply pollution problems but the Solu Tion won t be cheap. Shoal Lake Indian band chief her Bert red sky said yesterday the Price tag for the land which the City wants in order to prevent possible environmentally hazardous development would be in the millions of dollars. Well take a Good hard look at any offer but it has got to be reason the chief said during a Telephone interview. Winnipeg mayor Bill Norrie said the City and the province Are considering making an offer to Purchase the land which is located next to a water intake pipe at Shoal Lake the source of the City s drinking water. Acquisition of the land would prevent the Indian band from proceeding with a planned 35q-lot cottage development which the City feels would have a detrimental effect on the water sup ply. Road stalled the potential pollution problem has prompted the provincial government to stall the the project by not giving the band permission to build a Road across Crown land to the prospective site. The decision angered red sky who says the band needs the development to help offset High unemployment on the Reserve. Although withholding the permit inv Vides the City some Security natural resources minister Harry Enns has said he wants to find a final solution including a possible land Deal to rid the City of the problem forever red sky says while his people need the development to offset unemployment Money from the land Sale also could be used to provide jobs. Norrie has said Purchase of the land would be his personal preference. Because of the nature of the problem red sky agreed the land Deal May be the Best solution. Although Purchase of the land May solve one potential problem the City and the province also Are investigating ways of ensuring the water Supply is not affected by other cottage and min ing developments in the area. By Ron Campbell while the City has All but withdrawn from a Federal make work program to help jobless tradesmen re qualify for unemployment insurance a joint labor management committee is going it alone. The labor management committee consists of members of the Manitoba Winnipeg building construction trades Council and the construction labor relations association of Manitoba. Leo Desilets president of the trades Council which represents about 000 workers in 17 trades said unemployment among the trades currently is about 35 per cent. He said the committee wanted City participation to ensure make work projects could be identified without infringing on the rights of the City s largest Union the Canadian Union of Public employees local 500, and Pri vate building contractors. Desilets said the committee wanted the City to identify jobs and Job Sites supervise projects and Supply the materials with All of the provided for the program going to wages. However after consulting with civic Board of commissioners about two weeks ago the committee decided to take on the entire program itself. Desilets said the Board of commissioners did not seem too enthusiastic about participating. Yesterday the committee received its first instalment of from the Federal manpower department. Desi lets said the first tradesmen will Start work monday at a week. Without City participation part of the Money will have to go for materials which will reduce the number of work ers involved Desilets said. The program is expected to be completed within four or five months. At civic executive policy committee yesterday mayor Bill Norrie said fed eral restrictions on the program and cupe s desire to get its unemployed members into the projects before agreeing to them hampered City participation. Federal restrictions on the program would have meant Only 11 jobs would have been created Norrie said. Executive policy committee which recommended City participation in the program March 12, yesterday received As information Nome s letter. Plan Winnipeg proposes four tier City Park system picketers demand safer Corner by Gregg Shilliday angry parents and schoolchildren staged a demonstration at a St. Boni face intersection yesterday in an at tempt to pressure the City to improve traffic safety at the crossing. Upset about the High number of Acci dents at the Corner of Marion Street and Archibald Avenue the parents set up pickets and told curious passers by that pedestrians Are targets on the Busy intersection. Carol Monney Mother of three said an Accident at the intersection wednes Day was the last Straw and parents could no longer stand by wondering if our kids will get Home there s two elementary schools arc Wood and King George that Cross Here. The accidents Are getting so bad that the arc Wood principal is coming out in the morning to help the kids across. Some parents Are even pulling their kids off the school patrol. They just Don t think it s lower Speed limits Monney said the streets leading to the intersection should be posted with lower Speed limits and traffic lights should be set up More efficiently. We re not the experts Here. We just know there is a problem and that something has to be done about arc Wood principal lome Gerley said parents have a legitimate con Cern. We seem to be on the wrong Side of a dangerous Street. I be been Here 10 years and this has always been hanging Over he said he has written a letter to his superintendent pointing out the prob Lem and underlining the parents Seri by withdrawing their children from the school patrol. District 5 police supt. Ken Mccaskill said he was unaware of the parents concerns and suggested it was outside jurisdiction. Ken free press schoolchildren display their concern to passing motorists at St. Boniface intersection yesterday. As far As safety is concerned we can Only enforce whatever the City chooses to put up there. It s not up to us to design safety he said he was unsure of How danger Ous the intersection is. A spokesman for the City s streets and traffic division confirmed that the intersection was one of the worst in the City with 40 reported accidents in 1980 and 57 in 1979. Civic works and operations commit tee chairman John Angus said last night that if these people Are so concerned obviously Well have to look into it. It certainly sounds like it bears looking Angus said he will raise the Issue at a committee meeting monday and pass it on to the experts for a review. If they can come up with with a realistic solution to the problem then Well certainly go ahead with a four tier Parks system for Winni Peg is featured in the Parks and recreation component of plan Winnipeg presented yesterday to civic executive policy committee. The committee recommended the policies outlined by the Parks and recreation department document be included in the plan Winnipeg bylaw which is expected to be approved in principle by Council july 15. Major objectives of the Parks and recreation component Are to equalize opportunities for use of these facilities to upgrade open spaces to preserve historic and Scenic vistas increase use of Public lands and use of the school system at the neighbourhood level. The policies Deal with existing and possible future Parks in the City. Under the initial level of the system neighbourhood Parks for every neighbourhood of people would be built in association with an Elemen tary school site when possible. A second tier Community Parks would serve three to five neighbor hoods or a total population of about people and would be built in association with a High school and major recreation facilities. Regional Parks such As the existing la Barriere and Assiniboine Park areas would protect unique landscapes for nature oriented activities and would serve people in three or four communities. Urban provincial Parks such As Bird s Hill would protect major regional landscapes and provide facilities for More extended uses such As Camp ing and hiking. In addition to the four tier Park sys tem the plan makes recommendations on 14 other components of a Winnipeg Parks and recreation system. Included in these recommendations Are a major downtown Winnipeg Park and Riverbank Parks the creation of Low maintenance commons for activities such As gardening on vacant City owned properties transportation corridors and hydroelectric rights of a 400-Kilometre system of pedestrian and Bike paths to link City Parks a linear Riverbank Park system the designation of major streets As image routes and the designation of other thoroughfares As Scenic City eyes litter bylaw property owners will be under strict liability to keep their premises clean if City Council approves anti litter bylaw City Hall notebook amendments recommended yesterday by civic executive policy committee. The amendments put the onus on owners or occupants of private property to ensure litter does not accumulate so As to be unsightly. The changes also put the responsibility on the owner to ensure litter is not blown or carried from the property to a Public place or other private property. Interest in reviewing the 1975 anti lit Ter bylaw was sparked by a feb. 20 provincial judges court Case in which Junior s drive inn restaurant 2565 Portage Avenue was acquitted of littering charges Laid under the provincial clean environment act. Hearing on motion adjourned a hearing into a motion to prohibit the Manitoba human rights commis Sion from investigating a complaint about a doctor who stitched beads on an Indian patient during surgery last no vember has been adjourned indefinite y the adjournment was granted by chief Justice a. S. Dewar of Manitoba court of Queen s Bench yesterday so Elsie Miles the patient May be served with the originating notice of motion. The motion filed by or. John Teskey a pulmonary surgeon at St. Boniface general Hospital says the commission does not have the necessary jurisdiction to Deal with the complaint and that part of the human rights act is unconstitutional. The motion asks for an order Block ing the commission from further proceedings on a complaint filed by Jesse Rieber who wanted to know if the patient s human rights had been violated when Teskey sewed the beads to Miles Chest sutures after an operation to remove a benign lung lesion. In a report on the incident former supreme court of Canada Justice Emmett Hall said the doctor hoped the beads would please the patient. He said it was not a joke or an act of racism ;