BC Government Passes Discriminatory and Arguably Unconstitutional "Minor" Injury Law

Well the BC Government did it.  Despite a written election promise not to strip British Columbians judicial rights to fix the ‘dumpster fire’ at ICBC they did exactly that.  With an extra dose of hypocrisy they expressly targeted those suffering collision related psychiatric conditions while celebrating “mental health week”.

 
The BC NDP along with the Green Party went ahead and blamed “judges, lawyers and drivers“and passed Bill 20 into law.

 
 
 
 
Bill 20 breaks the above promise in just about every way possible.    In short Bill 20, along with Bill 22 that was passed earlier this week

• Label all mental health conditions following a collision as “minor”
• Give ICBC immunity from the courts when they cut people off from benefits
• Limit people with psychiatric conditions from a crash to challenge ICBC decisions in a tribunal that is designed to be unfair with an arbitrator appointed by the same Ministry in charge of ICBC
• Give ICBC Control of your health care options following a crash by taking away the rights of collision victims to recover all reasonable treatment costs

This legislation, which will apply to all crashes after April 1, 2019 discriminates against people who sustain psychiatric and psychological conditions and will undoubtedly face constitutional challenge.  Today the BC Trial Lawyers published the below opinion suggesting legal challenge is imminent to this law and the saga of ICBC’s ‘dumpster fire’ and the government’s ill conceived response to it is far from over.