A British Columbia MLA has taken the unusual step of launching a private legal action against a Vancouver woman who was investigated for hate speech.
Police arrested Charlotte Kates and recommended she be charged with willful promotion of hatred and public incitement of hatred for an April 29, 2024, speech at the Vancouver Art Gallery in which she praised the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel as “heroic and brave” and led a crowd in a chant of “Long live Oct. 7.”
Kates is the international director of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which was listed as a terrorist entity last October, after it held a rally where people chanted “death to Canada” and burned the Canadian flag in Vancouver.
With nearly a year and a half after Kates’ initial comments, Jewish groups have been asking why it has taken so long for the BC Prosecution Service to decide whether to proceed with charges.
On Wednesday, OneBC party Leader Dallas Brodie announced she would file a private prosecution against Kates.
“This is a citizen’s right. I will be laying the information in the courthouse behind me, setting out the reasonable grounds on which I believe the Charlotte Kates ought to be prosecuted for terrorism, offences against our Criminal Code,” Brodie said outside the Vancouver Provincial Court.
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Kates’ legal counsel could not be reached for comment on Brodie’s action.
“I do believe it’ll be successful because the government, I believe, the justice system will work this time, just nobody’s done it. This needs to come forward and I believe with all my heart it will be successful,” Brodie said.
One legal expert, however, disagrees.
Former Crown prosecutor Rob Dhanu, K.C., who is not involved with the case, said the right to lay a private prosecution is a critical safeguard in the legal system, and that anyone can file one if they believe there are reasonable grounds to believe a crime has occurred.
But he said the process comes with several key hurdles that Brodie’s attempt is unlikely to clear.
“Ultimately at the end of the day, this is political theatre, and it has even less chance of succeeding than a snowball’s chance in hell,” he said.
Brodie’s first challenge will come when she appears before a judge for an initial hearing detailing her case, Dhanu said, which would include the fact that there has already been a police investigation and that the question of charges is currently sitting before prosecutors.
“Most likely when the judge hears that the Crown is investigating at this stage and has not made a decision, she would fail at that first step,” he said.
Even if the case cleared that hurdle, he said it would unlikely clear a subsequent and more thorough hearing, or the third step at which point the Crown can take over the case and drop it if it wishes.
But while he said the case may be “political theatre,” Brodie may fail in the actual prosecution while succeeding in her larger goal.
“The one benefit here in terms of Ms. Brodie’s perspective is that it will at least shine a spotlight on the government’s inaction and then maybe that will spur them to take the next step,” he said.
B.C. Attorney General Niki Sharma was not made available for an interview on Wednesday.
In a statement, she said that the terrorism charges Brodie was proposing appear to fall under federal jurisdiction.
On the matter of VPD’s recommended hate crime charges, her ministry deferred questions to the BC Prosecution Service “to ensure prosecutorial and judicial independence from the Ministry.”
The BC Prosecution Service would only say the “matter remains under charge assessment” and would not provide a timeline for completion.
It acknowledged it had received a copy of Brodie’s private action and was “reviewing the document.”
Brodie, meanwhile, said she was expecting a call in 60 days to set a date for a hearing with a judge.
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