47 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

do you mean in the sense of it not being allowed anywhere else (outside of PQ)? Because I think that might be wrong -- isn't it allowed here? You get charged some kind of cover fee for bringing your own wine, and not every place lets you. But I thought some did.

I also thought that it's now legal to take unconsumed wine home with you. (Like, if you order a bottle & don't finish it -- which would never happen to me, but I've heard of this happening to other people -- you can get it stoppered and take it home.) Anyone know?

2005 article says many provinces have BYOB:

http://www.cbc.ca/ca...ants050128.html

BC has no BYOB. BC also has a very strong wine industry, and they work hard to get lots of BC product into restaurants. I'm sure they lobby hard against BYOB, and restaurants aren't exactly screaming for it. Like the article says, some places just charge a relatively high corkage fee, then it lets high-end connoisseurs bring what they want.

Yes, restaurants in BC MUST allow you to take home unused wine ordered by the bottle.

[Baro]

Why not just search people that appear under age. Basically if you fit the legal requirements to have your ID inspected to buy (what is it, looks under 30?) and then only take the booze away from those under aged?

I'm not saying I support such searches, but that would at least target the group they're trying to target using the very criteria to buy.

[Zimquats]

It seems to me that it would have made way more sense just to use the cops from the roadblocks to instead foot patrol the inner harbour and 'police' the individuals there that were indeed breaking the law. Hell, we could have given them extra Tasers and everything...

[VicHockeyFan]

Anyone read the Letters To The Editor today in the TC?

Every single writer missed the point.

[yodsaker]

The erosion of civil liberties happens inch by inch and those who notice it are labelled cranks.
Then one day people wake up and they are gone, baby gone.

[LJ]

[quote name='VicHockeyFan']I agree about the earlier drinking age to reduce bing drinking. A guy wrote quite a comprehensive study about the number of bing-drinking deaths (BTW, up 100% overall in the last 6 years in the US) that compared McGill with a few US schools.

quote]

I don't know anything about bing drinking but I have heard that binge drinking can be bad for you.

[Rorschach]

I think the lady from Sooke that was on A-Channel news last night that is taking legal action is right on the money as far as what the issue is. If the police got a complaint from the bus driver, why not just have the bus driver point out the problem instead of searching everyone on the bus. This lady passenger was stopped and searched three times. I just can't see how that is a "consent" search when you don't have the right to refuse.

[Rorschach]

On a side note, my fav. local corner store, Best Buy on Douglas (an "adult store" due to smoking display) has a $5.99 two liter bottle that is a brew-it-your-self. all you do it remove the existing cap, screw on a different attached one that has some type of activator yeast or something in it, then let it sit in dark and coolish room for 2 weeks, and you have your own 5% beer at about half the cost of beer-and-wine store price. I bought one, I'll let you know in two weeks.

Let me know! I'll try that stuff for sure.

[gumgum]

I'd try it too. Although I suspect the taste will prove that there is no god.
I played the home brew game for a while and the only benefit was the cost and the inebriation, which was plenty for me in university. I have grown since then.

[mat]

The erosion of civil liberties happens inch by inch and those who notice it are labelled cranks.
Then one day people wake up and they are gone, baby gone.

WELL SAID...the police act clearly states search and seizure can only happen when an officer has reasonable evidence a crime has been committed, or is about to. The courts have further defined that, and applied restrictions. Open, or unsealed, bottles can be carried - how else do you get wine back from Wine Kitz in jugs with screw-on caps (like I do). The police can only apprehend a person, and seize booze, if you are caught openly drinking in public. Anyone has the right to carry booze in public areas.

Next time I hope to see people insisting they are arrested, taken to the station for processing, and their booze kept intact as evidence...the police would quickly stop illegal searches if they have to detain hundreds.

I understand there are more lawsuits in the works on top of the BCCLA

[Nparker]

Next time I hope to see people insisting they are arrested, taken to the station for processing, and their booze kept intact as evidence...the police would quickly stop illegal searches if they have to detain hundreds.

Sounds like a good idea, but who is going to be the first to do this when faced with several police officers, brandishing assorted weapons?

[Koru]

Sounds like a good idea, but who is going to be the first to do this when faced with several police officers, brandishing assorted weapons?

that would be real simple...openly test that theory, have a half a dozen friends, several with video cameras, purposely walk by a "roadblock"...if the officers stop you and request you're sealed alcohol, advise them no and recite the search and sezuire act...if they persist continue to refuse and simply walk away. If they apply force of any form you have a case (who cares what weapons they have, just don't resist in any way shape or form and they have no justification to use force other than 2 hands and even then it would be questionable), if they confiscate the booze you have a case and if they arrest you, you have a case, a very strong one at that because it will have all been captured on several video cameras (the key to make this work is of course make sure initially the video cameras are not visible

Although I will agree to a certain point that things did get a little out of hand this past holiday I think it should be real simple...Create a "DRY" zone in the immediate area of the harbor unless you are in a bar or pub you cannot consume booze, carry booze or be in possession of alcohol (sealed or not) on that particular evening after xxxx pm. Have it widely advertised in all the local papers, tv and radio stations so no one has an excuse to be carrying booze through that certain "dry" zone in the downtown core...

I drink, especially on the weekends I enjoy my beer and wine but I fail to see a reason to bring alcohol to a PUBLIC FAMILY celebration such as Canada Day Fireworks. The cops are right, we let people run rampant and were going to have a helluva mess on our hands with those drunk and rowdies at the end of the night and someone is going to get hurt instead of a bunch of drunk fishes in the harbour with all that booze down the drains...Cops already have a hard job and we don't make it any easier by adding booze to their list of worries at an event with such a large turnout

[G-Man]

I have not been to the fireworks in many years but I would never consent to a search of my belongings by police.

[yodsaker]

But if you challenge these orificers they will bundle you off to the station house (for having the temerity to know your rights) and keep you there for up to ??? hours (not sure how many they are allowed without charging you) then release you. Tends to ruin your day.

[Rorschach]

Don't intentionally get yourself arrested. There are just too many tools in the police toolbox and you can get jammed up so many ways you can't think of them all. The best approach is to say any words you have to say in a calm tone. Observe name tags or ID numbers and complain later or take legal action later.

Are you asking me or ordering me to surrender my wine to you? If I say no, what are the consequences officer? The legal rule is that for a consent search to be lawful it can't be a submission to authority. It has to be a request/choice, not an order or a submission to authority. Once you are physically restrained ("Hey you! Stop!") then the officer is exerting authority over you and controlling your liberty.

The rule on detentions is that there must be a reasonable suspicion that a crime is occurring, has occurred, or is about to occur and the person detained is related to the suspected offence. The officer can't create the suspicion, i.e., I asked him to stop and he ran. If you don't have reasonable suspicion to say stop, then you don't have it if they don't stop.

To arrest you, the officer needs probable cause that a public offence has been attempted or committed in his presence, or that a felony has occurred although not in his presence. It's not a false arrest if the officer was mistaken as long as the totality circumstances are such that probable cause to arrest existed. They can arrest you and let you go without charges after investigation -- which happens a lot.

So don't push your luck. Be calm, polite, and cooperate and complain or do something about it later. You don't want to get arrested to make a point.

[mat]

Rorsach - you had the best post on this. There is no point to be intentionally arrested, no matter how poignant the cause. I suggest a 'button' campaign - everyone going to a public space event wearing a bright, noticeable button saying something like ' No stop and seizure - I know my rights'.

The 'dry zone' is a good idea - just like stadium concerts. Council would have to act, but they could create a temporary zone, with entry points for searches. I feel that should satisfy the public and police need to keep public consumption of alcohol out of the main gathering point.

There comes a point though when we need to act - in benefit for ourselves. The police tried and failed to confiscate the YVR video due to an individual taking up the issue of his rights, The RCMP in general have lost public trust for a number of reasons. Victoria police are in crisis and public displays of 'security cordons' do little to help their cause.

The more people who accept the erosion of Charter Rights, the more pain to society.

[Nparker]

Victoria police are in crisis and public displays of 'security cordons' do little to help their cause.

But glossy brochures mailed to every household make it all better.

[mat]

They should have saved the design (ucch), printing and distribution costs to pay for the lawsuits.

[G-Man]

If I am downtown with a bag and nothing illegal or even something could used to commit a crime, such as unopened booze then I most certainly will not consent to search.

By allowing it, you are complying with the trampling of our rights. They can't claim probable cause for carrying a bag for of books.

[VicHockeyFan]

If I am downtown with a bag and nothing illegal or even something could used to commit a crime, such as unopened booze then I most certainly will not consent to search.

By allowing it, you are complying with the trampling of our rights. They can't claim probable cause for carrying a bag for of books.

Me neither. As mentioned earlier, stay calm, but object. In my young years, I've been berated by cops for not producing ID (not driving) and I have calmly told them that "last time I checked, it was not mandatory to carry ID in this country". They got the point.