Callum Wake and Vincent Collard

Orders Issued: Two (2) Reconsideration Orders of $1,042,553.94 each

On July 25, 2019, the Community Safety Unit (CSU) attended a cannabis store operating as “642 Cannabis” (642) located at 3-6686 Sooke Rd, in the District of Sooke, BC, for the purpose of providing education on the seizure authorities and consequences for selling cannabis contrary to the Cannabis Control and Licensing Act (CCLA).

On August 27, 2019, CSU Officers conducted an enforcement inspection at 642 pursuant to section 89 of the CCLA. During this enforcement inspection, the CSU Officers seized cannabis pursuant to section 89(1)(g) of the CCLA.

On December 3, 2020, the Director of the CSU issued two Notice of Administrative Monetary Penalties, proposing to impose an administrative monetary penalty (AMP) on each of Callum Wake and Vincent Collard, based on CSU’s enforcement inspection.

Following a hearing, on June 30, 2022, a delegate of the Director issued a decision and Compliance Orders pursuant to sections 94(1), 94(2) and 94(7) of the CCLA. The delegate concluded on the evidence before her that Callum Wake and Vincent Collard were selling cannabis in contravention of section 15 of the CCLA. After considering all relevant factors, the evidence before her and the statutory purposes of the CCLA, the delegate exercised her discretion under section 94(1) of the CCLA and imposed AMPs on Callum Wake and Vincent Collard. Pursuant to section 94(2)(a) of the CCLA, the amount of the  AMP is equal to two times the retail value of the cannabis that was sold, possessed for the purpose of sale or produced in contravention of the CCLA, as determined by the Director. The delegate calculated the retail value of the cannabis that was possessed for the purpose of sale by each of Callum Wake and Vincent Collard was $262,820.74 and the retail value of the cannabis sold by Callum Wake and Vincent Collard between July 26, 2019 to August 26, 2019 was $258,456.23, totalling $521,276.97. The delegate issued a Compliance Order pursuant to section 94(7) on each of Callum Wake and Vincent Collard for $1,042,553.94.

On August 3, 2022, Callum Wake and Vincent Collard submitted a joint application for reconsideration alleging that the delegate had made three procedural fairness errors and six errors of law.

In November 2022, the legislature amended the CCLA and added section 95.1, which provides that the Director has no jurisdiction over constitutional questions. Since the addition of section 95.1 about the Director’s jurisdiction occurred mid-hearing, the parties were given the opportunity to make submissions with respect to it. The Deputy Director issued a summary decision on September 13, 2023 in which she concluded that section 95.1(1) is clear direction that the Director has no jurisdiction over constitutional questions in a hearing under section 94 or 95 of the CCLA. She also interpreted section 95.1(3) to mean section 95.1 applies retroactively to the AMP Hearing, as well as to the present reconsideration hearing. The Deputy Director concluded that section 95.1(1) does not preclude the Director from conducting a “Charter values” analysis in the exercise of their discretion under section 94(1).

Following a hearing, on January 8, 2024, the Deputy Director issued Reconsideration Orders to Callum Wake and Vincent Collard. These applicants had not persuaded the Deputy Director that the Director’s delegate made any errors of procedural fairness or any errors of law that would lead her to rescind or vary the Compliance Orders. Pursuant to section 95(10) of the CCLA, the Compliance Orders were replaced with Reconsideration Orders imposing the $1,042,553.94 AMPs on each of Callum Wake and Vincent Collard.