I am posting this to confirm that the Human Rights Hearing will be going forward this Monday, February 13, 2023, before Tribunalmember Amber Prince. The Hearing will cover witnesses and evidence regarding BOTH classes – the Mordvinov Class (concerning one alleged assailant/harasser, many of the facts of which are already public), and the General Class (concerning reports of many alleged harassers/assailants, the facts of which are not widely public in the same way the Mordvinov Class facts are).
There is not too much to share publicly about our preparations that differs from the last update. We have continued to prep witnesses. My own prep time was about 17 hours and I’m not quite done. The parties have exchanged witness lists. UBC declined to cooperate with the Joint Book of Documents after we provided our documents in January, we had a status conference with Tribunalmember Prince to discuss various issues.
I (Glynnis Kirchmeier) will be the first witness with about two days of direct testimony, and we have also scheduled Kaitlin Russell (who, like me, was not a victim of Mordvinov but was involved in reporting him to UBC) for the first week. Both of us are from the Mordvinov Class. With any luck, the two of us will fill in the vast majority of the chronological facts so that later Mordvinov witnesses can go much faster!
I have not made any decisions yet about how to update this blog during the Hearing (or if such a thing is even feasible given the other demands on my time) – but as always, I encourage folks with questions to reach out to me directly.
As noted previously, the Hearing is open to the public by telephone only, but it takes some effort to get permission to attend. I am copy-pasting instructions from an earlier blog post below.
Important! This Video Hearing is Public – But You Need to Request Access Ahead of Time, Preferably ASAP
Here is a link to the BCHRT’s instructions about how to attend the hearing. It is at the bottom of the “Covid-19 issues at the Tribunal” page on the website. I am going to copy-paste the instructions to join as they appear today on February 9, but please be sure to check the website directly in case the information changes. Additionally, I will note that in the past I have had to identify myself by name and any other individuals listening in to a public hearing each day that I attended. The public listening in must use the mute button, will only hear the proceedings, and is not allowed to make a recording, though handwritten notes, live tweets etc. are fine. The parties and the witnesses we call will be able to use the video functions.
Public Access to Hearings
The Tribunal recognizes the importance of having its hearings open to the public. Contact the Tribunal by email at BCHumanRightsTribunal@gov.bc.ca at least one week before the hearing to request dial in audio access (listen in only without video) at the presiding Member’s discretion. The email you send us must:
- Identify the hearing from the hearing schedule
- Attach a completed and signed agreement to attend the virtual hearing that includes your name and the telephone number you will be dialing in with
Glynnis Kirchmeier - and - Kirchmeier obo Others v. UBC 