Case information

Civil procedure — Abuse of process — Judgments and orders — Summary judgments — Reasons — Collateral attack — Applicant initiating legal proceedings against various defendants over forced removal from landowner’s premises — Judge dismissing applicant’s new proceeding as collateral attack on previous Court of Appeal decision in same matter — Court of Appeal dismissing applicant’s appeal — Whether Court of Appeal erred by treating earlier arbitration order issued by Residential Tenancy Board as non-binding and by failing to grapple with order’s effect on jurisdictional issues — Whether Court of Appeal erred by suggesting earlier arbitration order should be given less weight — Whether Court of Appeal erred by treating Residential Tenancy Board’s lack of statutory jurisdiction over licences to occupy as binding decision that applicant had no tenancy at all — Whether Court of Appeal erred by failing to provide meaningful reasons addressing applicant’s arguments — Whether Court of Appeal made palpable and overriding errors of fact — Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 77, s. 23 — Court of Appeal Act, S.B.C. 2021, c. 6, s. 21 — Residential Tenancy Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 78

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The applicant, James Stephen Knight, resided in a converted school bus at a campground in Sechelt, British Columbia. Mr. Knight was forcibly removed from the premises in January 2017, during which there was an altercation with RCMP officers; Mr. Knight was arrested and charged with various offences, although the criminal proceedings were later stayed. In 2018, Mr. Knight initiated legal proceedings against various defendants, including the respondent Minister of Public Safety, arguing (among other things) that his removal and his subsequent arrest by RCMP officers was unlawful. An application judge at the B.C. Supreme Court dismissed Mr. Knight’s application for relief. The Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed Mr. Knight’s appeal.