They’ve cleared an important hurdle as they continue to get the word out how the community can take back its hospice.
That’s what members of Take Back Delta Hospice are saying following British Columbia’s top court rejecting an appeal by the Delta Hospice Society’s current board to block membership applications by Delta residents who support the legal procedure medical assistance in dying (MAiD) being available at the Irene Thomas Hospice in Ladner.
In a ruling released Friday, the B.C. Court of Appeal found the society’s bylaws include no provision to reject membership applications based on people’s views on MAiD.
The appeal was filed by the current board which wanted to overturn an earlier petition to the B.C. Supreme Court, which successfully halted a planned special meeting by the board to have the society’s constitution amended to become Christian-based.
That petition by Chris Pettypiece, Sharon Farrish and former board president Jim Levin followed the current DHS leadership rejecting hundreds of membership applications by residents opposed to the board’s actions.
Accused of stacking the membership to impose their own religious viewpoint, including signing up hundreds of non-Deltans prior to a packed and heated annual general meeting last year, the current board is alleged to have breached the Societies Act by blocking new people from joining.
“Of course the Society is a private body in the sense that it is not an agency of government, and membership is voluntary in the sense that it is not required by law. But this does not signify that the Directors are, under the present Constitution and Bylaws, entitled to deny membership applications for reasons not spelled out in the Bylaws. If the Constitution or Bylaws had stated clearly that membership was restricted to persons subscribing to a particular opinion, ideology, or religion, the situation would be different,” the appeal ruling stated.
Opposed to providing MAiD at the local hospice, the board and its president Angelina Ireland reversed a decision by the previous board to allow MAiD.
Pettypiece told the Optimist this week they’ve talked to hundreds of people over the past several months who are also upset about what’s been happening to their hospice.
He said his group will continue to reach out to educate the community on how it can get involved.
“We know how people feel about these issues and we just want to make sure they know how they can be heard in this process. This really confirms that the community has a right to vote in the society and to participate. You need to participate in democracy,” he said.
Pettypiece said much work remains to be done prior to the next annual general meeting, although it’s not clear at this point what format the meeting will have or when it takes place due to COVID-19.
“Whether the current board chooses to pursue an annual general meeting of any kind, or if the membership chooses to pursue requisitioning a meeting of the members, in any case, the court ruled back in June it will determine whether things are right in order to proceed with the meeting. So, the court will have to approve that meeting,” he added.
Among the membership applications rejected but now have to be accepted are several prominent names such as former MLA Vicki Huntington, former mayor Beth Johnson, former police chief Jim Cessford and current school board trustee Daniel Boisvert.
Also opposed to the current board’s actions, MLAs Ian Paton and Ravi Kahlon, as well as Mayor George Harvie, weighed in on the membership controversy this summer, calling on the board to change course.
Fraser Health has mandated that non-faith based hospices offer MAiD to those who ask for it, putting Delta Hospice on a collision course with the health authority and the province, which announced earlier this year the society will lose its funding by Feb. 25, 2021.
Health Minister Adrian Dix said the society, regardless of who is in charge, would also no longer be permitted to provide palliative care.
