The tent erected by the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society in September 2020. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Tickets against Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society dropped after lawyer fails to attend court

Apr 15, 2021 | 11:58 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The organizer of a controversial group in Lethbridge, at least for now, will not have to worry about paying fines to the city.

After the closure of the Supervised Consumption Site in August 2020, a group of former employees known as the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society (LOPS) set up an unauthorized tent in Galt Gardens and other sites with the goal of assisting those who were using illicit substances.

READ MORE: Galt Gardens pop-up injection site moves location on 2nd night

The City of Lethbridge issued 17 tickets against LOPS organizer Tim Slaney, most of which were for erecting tents or other structures in a park.

Miranda Hlady, representing Slaney in court, made a motion on April 9 to have all of the tickets dropped, which was granted.

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“Over the course of this file, not just March and April, no one ever appeared on behalf of the City of Lethbridge in court, so there was never an appearance by a City of Lethbridge lawyer, agent hired by the City of Lethbridge, or an agent instructed by the City of Lethbridge.”

Hlady says the general understanding is, when you are retained as the lawyer for a criminal matter, you are expected to attend or make other arrangements.

LNN has received a statement from Lauren Chalaturnyk, the Edmonton-based lawyer hired by the city.

“Our office and the City were provided with no notice of the Court date on April 9, 2021 and Ms. Hlady failed to inform our office that she would be seeking a dismissal of the tickets for want of prosecution. As such, we were provided with no notice of Ms. Hlady’s motion and were given no opportunity to respond.”

“Further, no attempts were made by Ms. Hlady prior to or on April 9, 2021 to contact our office. Our office would clearly have attended on April 9, 2021 had we been provided with proper notice of the court date and Ms. Hlady’s intentions.”

Chalaturnyk continues to state that part of the confusion was due to the fact that his matter was moved from traffic court to provincial court. Her understanding was that Hlady had filed a Notice of Constitutional Question (NCQ) and that this would be adjourned until that was completed, which has still not occurred.

According to her, it was a “procedural error” to have the tickets dismissed without any prior notice to Chalaturnyk’s office and they are asking that the court re-issue Slaney’s tickets.

Another statement from the city to LNN says they are “disappointed in the outcome, as this is an important issue to the city.”

The municipality is currently considering their options, which may include asking that the court review this matter as possibly being an administrative error, an appeal of the judge’s decision, or a re-issuing of the charges.