With the renovations to the Surrey Provincial Courthouse complete, an official opening ceremony was held earlier today.

Our courthouse is the busiest in the province.  It is hoped the additional courtrooms, case conference rooms, expanded registries and the addition of a Family Justice Centre, will increase access to justice for our community.

Well, we are back to work today (except those that are retired) after a glorious day of golf Tuesday at the 3^rd Annual Westminster County Bar Associations’ Golf Tournament at Morgan Creek Golf Course.  Everyone made it home safely, or at least we haven’t heard otherwise.  We hope you enjoyed the event, and look forward to seeing you again next year.  We improved considerably on the pace of play issue which plagued us last year, some groups finishing in a very quick time of 4.5 hours.

Congratulations to the winners of the individual contests:

Putting:  Brad Bumstead and Corrine O’Handley 

KP: Corrine O’Handley and Fernando San Buenaventura

Long drive:  Evan Atkinson and Jessie Ramsay

And, of course, congratulations to the winners of the team contests:

Texas Scramble Team: Raj Deol, Jeevan Singh, Kashmir Ghag and Rav Rampuri

Mixed Texas Scramble Team:  Jeff and Amy Matthews, Kirsten Tonge and Kelly Routley

Thank you to our generous sponsors of the individual contests, including BMM Valuations (putting), Hamilton Duncan (KPs) and MTC Law (long drives).  Their sponsorship provides prizes of $150 each to the winners plus a trophy to keep on their bookshelves at their office or home.

And thanks to Integra Medical Consultants Inc. for sponsoring the $15,000 Hole in One contest on Hole 16.  Though no one aced the hole, the thought of winning $15,000 with just a stroke of the golf club gave brief thoughts (delusions?) of optimism.

Also thanks to all who donated prizes for the raffle draw, including Mr. Justice Crawford who donated books on golf (too late to help my golf game), MTC Law, Somers Poulin Hall, Baker Newby, McHarg Law, and many others.

Special thanks to Kirsten Tonge, who donated the Mike Weir framed artwork which was auctioned for $475.  And Erica Enstrom who purchased it.  And Kashmir Ghag who bought the Morgan Creek golf package.  Obviously he likes the course.  The net proceeds of the tournament are donated to the CBABC Lawyers’ Benevolent Fund.

Thanks to Morgan Creek for their hospitality (and patience with me) as well as the volunteers and the organizing committee of Daniele Poulin, Matt Somers, Lily Ravelo, Wes McHarg, Stephanie O’Mahony, Cheryl Stanley, Gord Kabanuk, Kirsten Tonge, Nick Cooper.  And of course Peter Goodwin who stood in as auctioneer.

The committee would like to hear some feedback from you about the tournament, to help plan for next year.  Venue, banquet, rules (should double par be the maximum or perhaps double bogey??), how can we recruit more golfers to get a full shotgun start (100 minimum to have the whole course to ourselves), etc. or anything else you would like to address.  I think the weather is something we can be thankful for, and over which we have no control.

Thanks.

Rick Molstad

Our Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday, June 6, 2019.  We are pleased to announce the election of a new executive for the 2019-20 term: Cheryl Stanley (President), Chelsea Dubeau (VP), Tanvir Sanghera (Secretary), Aaron Burns (Treasurer), Gordon Kabanuk (Past President); along with the following individuals as Directors at Large: Dan Moseley, Jason Maynes, Greg T. Palm, Christine Purewal, Gagan Khosa and Manjot Cheema.  For more details click here.

We wish to give a huge thank you for our outgoing executive and look forward to a great year ahead!

Looking back, we had a fantastic year serving our local bar and community and much was accomplished!   

Throughout 2018-19, the SBA continued offering opportunities for lawyers, judges and articled students to connect by facilitating a number of well attended social events, including our appy evenings, golf tournament and dinner with the bar associations of Westminster County (where money was raised for the CBA Lawyer's Benevolent Fund - $5,000 over the last 2 years) and, of course, our Annual Bench & Bar Dinners which were held in Oct 2018 and April 2019. 

Our latest Bench and Bar Dinner was a sold out affair and a resounding success as we welcomed four of our own local lawyers as new Provincial Court Judges, to Surrey, three of whom were SBA members: Judge Craig Sicotte (our former President), Judge Georgia Docolas and Judge David Albert.  Also, the Honourable Madam Justice Palbinder Shergill, a former member of our executive, was appointed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Other highlights of 2018-19 included:

• offering free and/or low cost CPDs; 
• informing on and providing a voice to Surrey lawyers regarding issues impacting our local legal community; 
• sponsoring Access Pro Bono's "Pro Bono Going Public Event here in Surrey as an "Appeal Court Sponsor";
• sponsoring the CBABC Women Lawyer's Forum;
• our SBA young lawyers connecting socially with their CPABC counterparts;
• maintaining a presence on the Surrey Provincial Court Users Committee and providing input as the renovations at Surrey Court proceeded; 
• speaking at the formal welcoming ceremonies for new judges appointed in Surrey;
• continuing to offer coffee/tea/water and photocopy services in  the Barrister's Lounge at the Surrey Courthouse;
• participating in the CBA local bar associations President's breakfast;
• planning for the future of the SBA; and
• continuing to develop and improve our new website to manage our members and events, and offer news and updates via email for local lawyers.

All of this would not have been possible without your involvement as members and the hard work of an amazing SBA Executive!  

Personally, I have enjoyed my involvement with the SBA immensely this past year and look forward what lies ahead over the next year!

Gordon K. Kabanuk
SBA President 

Our Annual Bench & Bar Dinner held on April 4 this year, was a SOLD OUT event and a resounding success!  Lawyers, retired lawyer, judges and students were able to connect and enjoy a wonderful meal together as we welcomed new appointments to our local bench:  Judges Craig Sicotte (former SBA President), Georgia Docolas, David Albert and Jennifer Lopes/

The Government of BC has just announced four new appointments to our local Provincial Court Bench: Judges Dave Albert, Georgia Docolas, Jennifer Lopes and Craig Sicotte.  

Our annual Fall Mingler, held on September 13 at the Big Ridge was a success!  Billed as a casual "get together" without agenda, it was great reconnecting with old acquaintances and seeing new people out.  A big thank you to Hamilton Duncan for sponsoring the appetizers!!

It was another great year for the SBA!  Please see the Annual President's Report prepared by Dan Moseley:  

2017-18 President's Report

The SBA Annual General Meeting was held on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 from at Sammy J's in Morgan Crossing.  We wish to say a big "thank you" to our outgoing executive and committees for all the hard work this past year and a "welcome" to our new executive for 2018-19!  We look forward to another great year!

The SBA held its Annual  Spring Mingler on Thursday May 10, 2018.  As always, the event provided a great opportunity for us to get together and connect as friends and colleagues.  Thank you to McQuarrie for doing an excellent job of hosting!