WHEREAS there is increasing concern over public health and safety and increased related local government costs as a result of the expansion of marijuana grow operations and methamphetamine laboratories into residential neighbourhoods; AND WHEREAS there is an increase in the sale of special equipment and supplies used to grow marijuana indoors and produce methamphetamines and an increase in the number of hydroponic and drug paraphernalia stores in the province: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of BC Municipalities request that the Province amend Section 59 of the Community Charter to more clearly articulate local governments authority to impose requirements on businesses that sell goods in the community which may endanger health or public safety.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General The Government of British Columbia is keenly aware of the public health and safety issues arising from illegal drug production operations and related drug paraphernalia businesses. There are a number of issues, including privacy issues, which need to be carefully examined before proceeding. The Office of Fire Commissioner and the Fire Chiefs Association of BC are co-chairing a Public Safety Task Force to examine issues that contribute to the production of illegal drugs and create a risk to public safety.
INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONER FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA Excerpted from letter to Minister of Community Services ...My office issued a report on August 30, 2006 about the use of surveillance bylaws by local governments, Local Governments and the Growth of Surveillance. That report expresses concern about use by local governments of their existing bylaw powers to require businesses to collect personal information from their customer and pass that information on to the policy whether or not the customers have broken any law or are reasonably under suspicion, on any basis, of illegal activity. The overriding concern is that these bylaws, while they may appear to respond to community and law enforcement concerns, conscript private businesses as surveillance agents of the state. Another concern is that information collected in this way may be used or shared inappropriately, albeit in good faith, once it is in police databases, which may be shared across the country and even internationally. The preamble of this UBCM resolution refers to concern about expansion of marijuana grow-ops and methamphetamine laboratories. Yet the resolution is not limited to these concerns; it is much broader in scope in referring to safety and health risks. The requested authority is overbroad in terms of addressing the concerns the resolution itself raises and, on this basis alone, I believe it should not be acted on. Further, while I acknowledge the considerable pressures on local government to deal with community concerns, allowing police unfettered and unconditional access to personal information of citizens without cause is neither necessary nor reasonable to address marijuana grow-ops. In this regard, I note that amendments passed earlier this year, through the Safety Standards Amendment Act, 2006, now permit local governments to obtain electricity consumption information from power producers in order to help identify and shut down grow-ops in their communities. Municipalities have, in passing this UBCM resolution, allowed no time to see if this measure will be effective - as I suspect is likely to be the case - in discovering illegal drug operations. I suggest that greater power to impose local regulations on businesses is not necessary in light of this provincial approach. At the very least, it would be prudent to wait and assess the results of the Safety Standards Amendment Act, 2006 before enabling other more privacy-intrusive measures that also impose costs, on small businesses especially. I urge the government not to introduce the Community Charter amendments requested through this UBCM resolution, since the result would be adoption of more surveillance bylaws and greater intrusion into the lives of all British Columbian citizens in a manner that is neither reasonable nor necessary, in the laudable fight against drugs.