Ex-B.C. conservation officer fired for refusing to kill bear cubs wins dismissal case
A B.C. conservation officer who made headlines in 2015 after he was fired for refusing to kill two bear cubs has won his fight over his dismissal in the province’s top court.
Last week, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled that Bryce Casavant‘s dismissal should have been addressed under the Police Act since he’d been acting as a special provincial constable, and not under his collective agreement and the Labour Relations Board.
“It nullifies what’s happened,” Casavant told Global News on Tuesday, adding that he feels vindicated by the decision.
“Legally speaking, it’s like (the dismissal) never happened.”
Casavant was suspended from the service in 2015 and later dismissed after he euthanized a bear that had gotten into a mobile home in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, but he refused to euthanize her two cubs.
Instead, he took them to a veterinarian and then to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association near Parksville.
The cubs were eventually released back into the wild.
The appeal court’s decision does not order the Conservation Officer Service to reinstate him.
“They don’t want to order me to do something that I might not want to do,” said Casavant, who took a job with the Ministry of Forests after he was fired and even ran for office in 2017.
“I think it was a soft approach to work out the consequences now.”
With his dismissal nullified, he is still technically a special constable appointed under the Police Act.
“The legal ramifications of that now need to be worked out between my lawyer and the government’s legal team.”
A former Vancouver Island B.C. conservation officer who made headlines in 2015 after he was dismissed for refusing to kill two bear cubs, has completed a Ph.D. and used his research to win his case in the B.C. Court of Appeal.
A three-judge panel ruled June 4 that the legal process had been flawed and Bryce Casavant's dismissal and subsequent union action should all be nullified, effectively wiping the slate clean of four years of legal battles.
B.C. Court of Appeal ruling leaves Casavant in a somewhat peculiar position, as it didn't order the Conservation Officer Service to reinstate him, as would normally happen in a labour dispute, but ruled all previous legal action wasn't valid.
"I don't know what that means for me in the future moving forward," Casavant told iNFOnews.ca. "So at this time I can't make any further comment."
Casavant's legal woes started in 2015 when he disobeyed an order to euthanize two bear cubs after a complaint came in they were eating food from a freezer at a Port Hardy mobile home. He did euthanize the mother but then took the cubs to a vet and arranged for the cubs to be given to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Association. The cubs were later successfully released into the wild.
Casavant was suspended following the incident and his union negotiated with the provincial government and had him moved to another department. The court decision says his loss of Conservation Officer Status is defined as a dismissal. He later quit working for the government and is now employed by the conservation group Pacific Wild.
The part where he went back to school, got his doctorate, then returned and won his case ... that part wasn't emphasized in the written story. Amazing. And he didn't have to kill the cubs He argued that conservation officers can't be ordered to kill.
Like I said before, if you go to court, study the laws and know your rights. Call them out about their made up laws and stupid bullshit they just magically pull outta their asses or treat you like your stupid cause they think you don't know their stupid laws...don't wait for a lawyer to protect you, cause they won't.
I wouldn't be surprised if this mobile home in the article was a filthy pigsty which probably attracted the bears.
He argued that conservation officers can't be ordered to kill.
