Exclusive: Park Board steamrolling ahead with eviction, say six dissenting associations

Court documents filed by Vancouver’s six dissenting community centre associations say the Park Board is proceeding to “evict” them before the court has decided on their bid for an injunction to stop the OneCard.

Controversial OneCard

The Park Board terminated Joint Operating Agreements on Aug. 29 with volunteer boards at Hastings, Kensington, Kerrisdale, Killarney, Riley Park Hillcrest and Sunset community centres effective year-end. That was in reaction to the Aug. 20 filing of a B.C. Supreme Court petition aimed at blocking the citywide imposition of the OneCard membership system. The six associations, who are fighting the Park Board plan to centralize control of the 22 community centres, say they have a right to sell their own memberships. 

Justice Bruce Cohen reserved judgment after the Sept. 17-18 hearing. 

The six associations now say the Vision Vancouver-controlled Park Board is looking for other not-for-profit groups to replace them and staff transition teams have been formed to prepare for the Jan. 1, 2014 Park Board takeover.

The Oct. 15 court filing by Dean Davison, the lawyer for the six community associations, says the community associations have invested millions of dollars into the community centres and the programs “and as a result have legal ownership of a great deal of property and assets at the community centres." The six associations want the court to declare the community centres are "held on constructive trust by the Park Board for the plaintiffs."

"The Park Board is also currently taking steps to take over the programs on Jan. 1, 2014 when ownership of the copyrighted material (in the brochures which promote the programs) and the decades of goodwill is still a matter that must be dealt with by the court," according to the association's filings.

The plaintiffs applied Oct. 4 for an injunction to stop the Park Board from terminating the Joint Operating Agreements with the community associations and a declaration that the Joint Operating Agreements remain in effect and an interim injunction forcing the Park Board to perform its obligations under the JOAs.

A three-day hearing is scheduled for Oct. 22, but Park Board wants it adjourned to Nov. 18. 

The filing by city lawyer Jason Twa claims: "The Park Board has taken no steps to interfere with the plaintiffs joint operation of community centres during the currency of the JOAs, notwithstanding that it has issued notices of termination. Until the terminations of the JOAs are effective the Park Board continues to jointly operate community centres with the plaintiffs."

Twa claims more time is needed to prepare a defence because park board and civic archives must be searched for documents dating back to the 1930s about "historic financial and other contributions that the plaintiffs have made to the development, construction and renovation of community centres and related facilities dating as far back as the 1930s." 

"It will be a considerable undertaking for the Park Board to search for, locate, review and gather such documents," according to the Park Board filing.

Meanwhile, only two-and-a-half months remain until Jan. 1, 2014. 

Flashback: Feb. 20, 2010

OLY-curling: Canada 7 Great Britain 6
Bob Mackin, QMI Agency

VANCOUVER: Greatness begets greatness.

The marquee match of the 2010 Winter Olympics’ men’s curling round robin Saturday between the Kevin Martin-skipped Team Canada and the Scottish-based Great Britain side of David Murdoch was big enough to attract Wayne Gretzky to the Vancouver Olympic Centre.

The biggest rivalry in the curling world was rekindled before a crowd of 5,075 that witnessed Martin score a pair in the 10th end for the 7-6 win.

"They played awful well for the first five ends,” said Martin, now 6-0. “The last five we came on real strong."

Canada recorded two in the second end and Great Britain responded with three in the third. Martin tied the match on a well-executed last rock of the fourth and raised a third on his last of the fifth. Murdoch drew one to regain the lead.

Martin was beaming and the Canadian fans jubilant with his nifty double takeout for the 5-4 lead in the sixth, but the see-saw battle continued in the seventh when Murdoch tied and regained the edge yet again to enter the ninth.

A group of shirtless fans sparked a spontaneous singing of O Canada that helped rally Martin to tie and win in the 10th. The outpouring of patriotism even put a smile on the gap-toothed Murdoch as he paused for a drink.

"It was hilarious,” Murdoch said. “It's not something you'll ever see ever again.”

Martin beat Murdoch two of three times during the 2008 world championship in Grand Forks, N.D., but Murdoch found revenge with a trio of wins at the 2009 worlds in Moncton, N.B. He extended the winning streak to four last month at the Casino Rama Skins Game.

“We made a mistake in the seventh when we had a chance for two, but then we stole one in the eighth,” said Murdoch, who is now 3-3.

Martin, 43, was the Salt Lake 2002 silver medalist. Lockerbie, Scotland’s Murdoch, 31, also won the 2006 world championship and came fourth at the Turin Olympics in 2006.

Canada wraps the round-robin with matches Sunday against Switzerland, Monday against the United States and Tuesday against China.

In other action at the evening session, France upset Sweden 7-4 and Switzerland beat China 9-5.

On the women’s side, Canada’s Cheryl Bernard-skipped rink resumes play Sunday against the U.S. and China.