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| This archived statute consolidation is current to November 5, 2001 and includes changes enacted and in force by that date. For the most current information, click here. |
[Updated to November 5, 2001]
1 In this Act:
"communicable disease" has the meaning prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
"contagious" means communicable by close contact or inoculation;
"health district" means a health district established in a rural area by the Lieutenant Governor in Council under this Act;
"health hazard" means
(a) a condition or thing that does or is likely to
(i) endanger the public health, or
(ii) prevent or hinder the prevention or suppression of disease,
(b) a prescribed condition or thing, or
(c) a prescribed condition or thing that fails to meet a prescribed standard;
"health officer" means a medical health officer appointed for the enforcement of this Act or of any other Act of British Columbia relating to public health;
"health unit" means a health service established under this Act;
"house" includes schools, factories and other buildings, huts and tents used for human habitation or work, whether the use is permanent or temporary, and whether they are stationary or movable;
"householder" means the person who is for the time being, as between the actual occupants, the occupant in charge of any premises, whether as owner, tenant, agent or otherwise;
"infectious" means communicable in any manner, even at a distance;
"isolation" has the meaning prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
"issuing official" means a person authorized by or under the regulations to issue a permit or other authorization required by or under this Act;
"local board" means the local board of health in each municipality and in each health district as constituted and organized under this Act, and includes a union board;
"medical health officer" means the medical health officer appointed under this Act to act within the limits of the jurisdiction of any local board, or within any health district;
"metropolitan board of health" means a board established under section 46;
"mineral trading purpose" means the sale, barter or exchange of natural mineral water in bottles or other containers, or the utilization of the waters in sanatoriums or for other purposes;
"modified isolation" has the meaning prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
"municipality" includes a regional district, improvement district, a diking district, sewerage district, drainage district and a special district established under any Act;
"owner" means, in relation to land or premises, the person who receives the rent of the land or premises, whether on the person's own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would receive the rent if the land or premises were let;
"private dwelling" means
(a) a structure that is occupied as a private residence, or
(b) if only part of a structure is occupied as a private residence, that part of the structure;
"public health inspector" means an officer appointed under this Act who is the holder of a Certificate in Public Health Inspection (Canada) or an equivalent certificate issued by a competent authority and acceptable to the Board of Certification of Public Health Inspectors of the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors;
"quarantine" has the meaning prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
"regional board" means the governing and executive body of a regional district;
"regional district" means a regional district incorporated under the Local Government Act;
"reportable communicable disease" has the meaning prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council;
"street" includes a highway, road, square, row, lane, mews, court, alley and passage, whether it is a thoroughfare or not;
"theatre" includes the building, rooms and places where any play, concert, opera, circus, trick or juggling show, gymnastic or other exhibition, masquerade, public dance, drill, lecture, address or other public gathering is or may be held, given, performed or takes place, and the approach or approaches to it and its appurtenances;
"union board" means a union board of health constituted and organized under this Act;
"violates" includes any disobedience, contravention, infraction, neglect or refusal, and whether or not the act is one of omission or commission.
1.1 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation,
(a) designate
(i) a local government or class of local government, or
(ii) another public body or class of public body
as a local authority for the purposes of subsection (2),
(b) establish the geographical jurisdiction of a designated local authority,
(c) specify the provisions of this Act that apply under subsection (2) in relation to a designated local authority, and
(d) establish terms and conditions respecting the powers, duties and functions of a local authority under subsection (2).
(2) Subject to the regulation under subsection (1), a designated local authority has, within its area of jurisdiction, the same powers, duties and functions as a local board in relation to the prescribed provisions of the Act.
Part 2 – Government Officials and Regulations
2 A Provincial health officer, who must be a medical practitioner, and other officers, clerks and employees necessary for the supervision and enforcement of this Act and the regulations may be appointed under the Public Service Act.
3 (1) The Provincial health officer is the senior medical health officer for British Columbia and must advise the minister, and senior members of the ministry, in an independent manner on health issues in British Columbia and on the need for legislation, policies and practices respecting those issues.
(2) The Provincial health officer must monitor the health of the people of British Columbia and provide to the people of British Columbia information and analyses on health issues.
(3) If the Provincial health officer considers that the interests of the people of British Columbia are best served by making a report to the public on health issues in British Columbia, or on the need for legislation or a change of policy or practice respecting health in British Columbia, the Provincial health officer must make that report in the manner the Provincial health officer considers most appropriate.
(4) Each year the Provincial health officer must give the minister a report on the health of the people of British Columbia including, if appropriate, information about the health of the people as measured against population health targets, and the minister must lay the report before the Legislative Assembly as soon as practical.
4 (1) Despite other provisions of this Act or the regulations, if the Provincial health officer considers that the health of the public is or may be in danger, the Provincial health officer may order a medical health officer to take the action the Provincial health officer considers appropriate.
(2) The Provincial health officer must establish and monitor professional standards for medical health officers.
(3) In those areas of British Columbia outside the jurisdiction of a local board, the Provincial health officer has the power and authority of a medical health officer appointed under this Act.
(4) If section 30 applies and a medical health officer has not been appointed to act as a temporary replacement, the Provincial health officer may act in the place of a medical health officer while section 30 continues to apply or until a temporary replacement is appointed under section 30.
5 The Provincial health officer must not, insofar as the laws of British Columbia apply, give or be compelled to give evidence in a court or in proceedings of a judicial nature concerning knowledge gained in the exercise of a power or duty under this Act.
6 (1) No action for damages lies or may be brought against the Provincial health officer because of anything done or omitted in good faith
(a) in the performance or purported performance of any duty under this Act, or
(b) in the exercise or purported exercise of any power under this Act.
(2) Subsection (1) does not absolve the government from vicarious liability for an act or omission for which it would be vicariously liable if this section were not in force.
7 (1) The minister must do the following:
(a) take account of the interests of health and life among the people of British Columbia;
(b) especially study the vital statistics of British Columbia;
(c) endeavour to make an intelligent and profitable use of the collected records of death and of sickness among the people;
(d) make sanitary investigations and inquiries about the cause of disease, and especially of an epidemic;
(e) inquire into the causes of varying rates of mortality and the effect of locality, employment and other circumstances on health;
(f) make suggestions as to the prevention and interception of contagious and infectious diseases the minister believes most effective and proper, and as will tend to prevent and limit as far as possible the rise and spread of disease;
(g) inquire into the measures that are being taken by local boards for the limitation of any existing dangerous, contagious or infectious disease, through powers conferred on local boards by this or any other Act;
(h) if the minister believes it is necessary, advise officers of the government and local boards about public health, and of the means to be adopted to secure it, and of the location, drainage, water supply, disposal of excreta, heating and ventilation of any public institution or building.
(2) If after an inquiry under subsection (1) (g), it appears that sufficient measures are not being taken, or that powers are not being properly enforced, it is competent for and the duty of the minister, in the interests of public health, to require local boards to exercise and enforce any of the powers that, in the opinion of the minister, the urgency of the case demands.
(3) In any case where the local board, after request by the minister, neglects or refuses to properly exercise its powers, the minister may exercise and enforce at the expense of the municipality, in the case of municipalities, any of the powers of local boards that, under the circumstances, the minister may consider necessary.
8 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for the prevention, treatment, mitigation and suppression of disease and regulations respecting the following matters:
(a) the management, maintenance, functions, duties and jurisdiction of local boards, health units, health officers and public health inspectors;
(b) the organization of health units;
(c) the qualifications in the way of special training, knowledge or experience of those persons who may be appointed as medical health officers;
(d) the prevention and removal of nuisances or health hazards;
(e) the cleansing, purifying, ventilating and disinfecting of houses, churches, public and charitable institutions, buildings and places of assembly, railway stations, carriages and cars, as well as other public conveyances, by the owners and occupiers and persons having care of them;
(f) the inspection of hospitals, jails, orphanages, reformatories, houses, churches, buildings and places of assembly, railway stations, carriages and cars and all other public conveyances;
(g) the construction, maintenance, cleansing and disinfection of all drains, sewerage systems, sewers, privies, toilets, water closets and pigsties;
(h) the method of the carrying on of all noxious or offensive trades or businesses, and the summary abatement or termination of any nuisance, health hazard or injury to the public health arising or liable to arise from them;
(i) the inspection, licensing, method of constructing, furnishing, equipping and maintaining, cleansing and disinfecting all slaughterhouses and other places in which animals are killed and their flesh prepared for sale or to be used for food, and all canneries, fishhouses, smokehouses and warehouses in which fish are cured, packed or prepared for sale or to be used as food;
(j) the interment of the dead and the conduct of funerals;
(k) the isolation or modified isolation or placing in any hospital or building provided for quarantine or isolation of a person having a reportable communicable disease or the quarantine of a person who, while susceptible to a reportable communicable disease, has been exposed to it;
(l) the reporting to a medical health officer by every medical practitioner of any person under his or her treatment for any infectious or contagious disease or any disease dangerous to public health;
(m) the vaccination of all children born or residing in British Columbia;
(n) the vaccination of all persons entering or residing in British Columbia not already vaccinated, or not sufficiently protected by previous vaccination;
(o) the supply and quality of vaccine matter;
(p) the prevention of the use of noxious manures and fertilizers, and of manures and fertilizers dangerous to public health;
(q) the regulation of the location, equipment, management and maintenance of all creameries, dairies and market gardens;
(r) the prevention of the pollution, defilement, discoloration or fouling of all lakes, streams, pools, springs and waters;
(s) the imposition, levying and recovery of penalties on and from any person who violates any rule, order or regulation made under this Act;
(t) the prevention of the pollution by sputum of tram cars, railway cars and other public conveyances, sidewalks and the floors and other parts of public buildings;
(u) the reporting, in writing, to a medical health officer that a person is suffering, or suspected to be suffering, from a communicable disease by
(i) the medical practitioner attendant on the person;
(ii) if there is no medical practitioner attendant, the head of the house in which the person resides;
(iii) a superintendent of a hospital, Provincial mental health facility, correctional centre, orphanage, convent, home or private school;
(iv) the manager or proprietor of a hotel or boarding house,
and may prescribe forms and may prescribe different forms for different diseases and classes of disease;
(v) the cleansing, purifying and disinfecting of rooms, clothing, utensils and other articles used by persons suffering from a communicable disease;
(w) the inspection by medical health officers of the rooms occupied by persons suffering from a communicable disease, and the duties of medical health officers to visit persons suffering from that disease if there is no medical practitioner in attendance on them;
(x) the making by medical health officers of full returns as to all cases of communicable diseases with which they have to do in the course of their official duties;
(y) the compulsory examination and treatment, by order of the health officer, of a person who the health officer believes on reasonable grounds is or may be infected by, or has been or may have been exposed to, a communicable disease in an infectious state;
(z) the prohibition of the use or sale of milk from cows suffering from tuberculosis, and of the use, sale or exposing for sale of the flesh of animals affected by that disease.
(2) In addition to the matters set out in subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations with respect to the following matters:
(a) the construction, with due regard to ventilation, natural light and general sanitary conditions and requirements, of all boarding houses, tenement houses and lodging houses, and the size of the dwelling rooms in boarding houses, tenement houses and lodging houses, and the number of persons who may dwell in them;
(b) compulsory registration of boarding houses, tenement houses and lodging houses and regulating the mode of registration;
(c) the construction, maintaining, inspecting, cleaning, purifying, ventilating and disinfecting of theatres, dance halls, roller skating rinks, barber shops, cold storage buildings, fish shops, butcher shops, baker shops, bake houses, storehouses and public bathing houses;
(d) for licensing and regulating plumbers;
(e) for regulating the plumbing to be installed in buildings, including the materials to be used in those buildings and the pipes, drains and all means of connection with sewers and the taps and all apparatus in connection with those pipes, drains and other means of connection, and the keeping, cleansing and repairing of them;
(f) generally all matters, acts and things necessary for the protection of public health and for ensuring the full and complete enforcement of this Act;
(g) for routine blood tests by practising physicians of all pregnant women patients immediately on their coming under care;
(h) the control of radiation sources and radiation hazards;
(i) the location, construction, maintenance, inspection, cleaning, purification and disinfecting of swimming pools, and exempting certain swimming pools from the regulations;
(j) the location, arrangement, cleansing, purifying, disinfecting, maintenance and inspection of tent camps, trailer camps or tent and trailer camps and all buildings that are an integral part of them;
(k) all commercial coin laundries;
(l) the imposition, levy and recovery of fees and charges
(i) for whatever inspections, tests, analyses, examinations and samplings may be required to be performed by the ministry to ensure the maintenance of environmental health standards required under this Act, or the regulations or orders made under this Act, and
(ii) in respect of applications for, and the issue of, permits, licences, consents and approvals, and in respect of any consultations, reviews of plans and other things done by the ministry for the administration of this Act;
(m) the inspection, regulation and control, for the purposes of health protection provided in this Act, of
(i) commercial or industrial premises, or
(ii) the location, design, installation, construction, operation and maintenance of
(A) septic tanks,
(B) waterworks systems,
(C) sewage disposal systems,
(D) public or commercially operated swimming pools,
(E) commercial campsites, and
(F) manufactured home or trailer parks
and requiring a permit for them and requiring compliance with the conditions of the permit and authorizing inspections for that purpose;
(n) the issue of permits to persons constructing, installing or operating buildings, premises, systems and facilities, the construction, installation or operation of which is subject to regulation by or under this Act, with power to set
(i) terms and conditions in permits and fees for permits, and
(ii) different terms, conditions and fees for different types or classes of construction, installation or operating permits.
(3) A regulation under subsection (2) (m) may
(a) delegate to a municipality a power of inspection, regulation or control under the regulation, including the power to establish a permit scheme and retain permit fees, if the municipality requests it and the criteria under paragraph (b) are met,
(b) specify criteria that a municipality must meet before its request under paragraph (a) will be considered, and
(c) specify the terms and conditions that a municipality must meet in the exercise of a power delegated under paragraph (a) and the reporting and audit requirements with which a municipality must comply while a delegation under paragraph (a) applies to the municipality.
(4) If a person is aggrieved by the issue or the refusal of a permit for a sewage disposal system under a regulation made under subsection (2) (m), the person may appeal that ruling to the Environmental Appeal Board established under section 11 of the Environment Management Act within 30 days of the ruling.
(5) On hearing an appeal under subsection (4), the Environmental Appeal Board may confirm, vary or rescind the ruling under appeal.
(6) In addition to the matters set out in subsections (1) and (2), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations authorizing persons to issue permits or other authorizations required by or under this Act.
9 (1) The British Columbia Cancer Agency may request a person to supply it with information or records or classes of information or records that may be prescribed by the minister for the purposes of this section.
(2) A request must not be made under subsection (1) unless reasonable grounds exist to believe that the information or records will facilitate medical research and that the benefit to the public of the research justifies the request for the information or records.
(3) Subject to any other enactment, a person to whom a request is made under subsection (1) must comply with the request in the manner and at the times requested if the information or records are within the person's possession or control.
(4) A person aggrieved by a request made under subsection (1) may at any time apply, by means of an originating application commenced by petition, to the Supreme Court for a review of the request.
(5) An application under subsection (4) suspends the request until the court makes an order under subsection (6).
(6) On a review under subsection (4), the court may order the cancellation of the request or make any other order it considers appropriate.
(7) A person who has obtained information or records pursuant to a request made under subsection (1) must not disclose the information or records to another person except
(a) for the purpose of medical research and to a person engaged in medical research whether or not the person is engaged in medical research for the British Columbia Cancer Agency,
(b) in court proceedings related to this Act or a regulation,
(c) under an agreement that
(i) is between the British Columbia Cancer Agency and a government, government agency or another organization engaged in medical research,
(ii) relates to medical research, and
(iii) provides for the disclosure of information and records to that government, government agency or other organization, or
(d) for the purpose of compiling statistical information by an organization, a government or a government agency if the information is compiled to facilitate medical research.
(8) An action for damages does not lie for anything done or omitted in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of the powers conferred or an obligation imposed by this section.
10 (1) A health status registry is continued in the ministry.
(2) The health status registry may record and classify for statistical or for health research purposes information concerning congenital anomalies, genetic conditions or chronic handicapping conditions of individuals.
(3) The health status registry may request that a person provide it with information concerning congenital anomalies, genetic conditions or chronic handicapping conditions of individuals.
(4) A request must not be made under subsection (3) unless a reasonable basis exists for the belief that the information will facilitate recording and classification described in subsection (2) and that the likely benefit to the public justifies the request.
(5) The person to whom a request under subsection (3) is made must comply in the manner and at the times requested and give the information requested that is within the possession or control of that person.
(6) Section 9 (4) to (6) applies if a person wishes to dispute a request the person received under subsection (3) of this section.
(7) Persons acting on behalf of the health status registry must not communicate personally identifying information obtained under this section to persons who are not acting on behalf of the health status registry except to the extent necessary for the purposes of subsection (2).
11 (1) If a medical health officer has reasonable grounds to believe that
(a) a person has a reportable communicable disease or is infected with an agent that is capable of causing a reportable communicable disease, and
(b) the person is likely to willfully, carelessly or because of mental incompetence, expose others to the disease or the agent,
the medical health officer may order the person to do one or more of the following:
(c) comply with reasonable conditions the medical health officer considers desirable for preventing the exposure of other persons to the disease or agent;
(d) take or continue medical tests or treatment for the purpose of identifying or controlling the disease or agent;
(e) place himself or herself in isolation, modified isolation or quarantine as set out in the order.
(2) Despite any other provision of this Act or of another enactment, an information charging a person with contravention of an order made under subsection (1) may only be laid
(a) by a medical health officer, a deputy medical health officer or an assistant medical health officer, and
(b) with the prior approval of the Provincial health officer.
(3) [Repealed 1999-12-4.]
(4) If the Provincial Court finds that the person charged under subsection (2)
(a) has a reportable communicable disease or is infected with an agent that is capable of causing a reportable communicable disease,
(b) is likely to willfully, carelessly or because of mental incompetence, expose others to the disease or agent, and
(c) has contravened the order of the medical health officer referred to in subsection (1),
the court may, in addition to any other penalty provided by this Act, order one or more of the following:
(d) that the order of the medical health officer is confirmed or varied in accordance with subsection (1) and that the person comply with the order;
(e) that the person be detained in a place prescribed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council for detentions under this section
until in the opinion of the Provincial health officer the person no longer has the reportable communicable disease or agent, but an order or combination of orders for isolation, modified isolation, quarantine or detention must not exceed a period of one year.
(5) Despite subsection (4), the health officer may at any time, either before or after the expiry of the period of detention, testing, treatment, isolation, modified isolation or quarantine ordered under subsection (4), apply to the Provincial Court for an extension of that period and the court may extend that period for a further period not exceeding one year, after which the health officer may make further applications for extension of the period of detention, testing, treatment, isolation, modified isolation or quarantine.
(6) In an inquiry under this section, a certificate or laboratory report as to the result of any test made in a laboratory approved by the minister is proof in the absence of evidence to the contrary of the facts stated in the certificate or report.
(7) This section does not apply to a communicable disease that is a venereal disease as defined by the Venereal Disease Act, and section 6 of that Act applies to that communicable disease.
12 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may further make regulations applicable to lumbering camps, mining camps, sawmills, railway construction camps and other places where labour is employed throughout British Columbia, for the following:
(a) any particular industry and the conditions under which it may be carried on for the purpose of preventing nuisances or health hazards and the outbreak or spread of disease;
(b) the cleansing, regulating and inspection of lumbering, mining and railway construction camps and of other places where labour is employed;
(c) providing for the employment of medical practitioners by employers of labour in lumbering, mining and railway construction camps and other places where labour is employed, and for the erection of permanent or temporary hospitals for the accommodation of persons so employed;
(d) providing for the construction, arrangement and inspection of houses for the accommodation of persons employed in lumbering and mining camps and in railway construction work.
(2) Regulations made under this section may be general in their application, or may be made applicable specially to any particular locality or industry.
(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations for compelling and regulating or prohibiting the provision, installation and maintenance by the owners or lessees of houses or premises of privies with earth or water closets and urinals for the use of the persons residing in, employed or working in or using the house or premises.
13 A regulation made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council that requires the vaccination or revaccination of all persons who reside in the jurisdiction of a health officer is deemed not to apply to a person who
(a) makes an affidavit before a Provincial Court judge or any other person authorized to take declarations under the Election Act to the effect that the person conscientiously believes that vaccination would be prejudicial to his or her health or to the health of his or her child, as the case may be, or for conscientious reasons objects to vaccination, and
(b) delivers or transmits by registered mail to the health officer of the district in which he or she resides a certificate by the Provincial Court judge or other official person before whom the oath or declaration was taken of the conscientious objection referred to in paragraph (a).
14 The minister must from time to time, and especially during the prevalence in any part of British Columbia of an epidemic, endemic or contagious disease, make public distribution of sanitary literature and of special practical information about the prevention and spread of contagious and infectious diseases, through the medium of the public press and by circular to local boards and health officers, and in and through the public schools, and otherwise, as the minister considers necessary in the interest of public health.
15 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may appoint the Provincial health officer, or any other person, a commissioner to investigate the sanitary condition and surroundings of any city, district or place, or the cause and treatment of any contagious or other disease or mortality.
(2) At an investigation under subsection (1), evidence may be taken on oath or otherwise, as the commissioner believes expedient.
(3) The commissioner may, by warrant under his or her signature and seal, call on any person to give evidence regarding any matter in question in the investigation, and the commissioner has all the powers that may be conferred on a commissioner appointed under Part 2 of the Inquiry Act.
16 (1) If British Columbia, or any part of it or place in it, appears to be threatened with any formidable epidemic, endemic, infectious or contagious disease, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations the Lieutenant Governor in Council believes necessary for the prevention, treatment, mitigation and suppression of disease.
(2) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by the regulations referred to in subsection (1), provide for the following:
(a) the frequent and effectual cleansing of streets, yards and outhouses by the local health authorities, or by the owners or occupiers of houses and tenements adjoining streets, yards and outhouses;
(b) the removal of nuisances or health hazards;
(c) the cleansing, purifying, ventilating and disinfecting of houses, churches, buildings and places of assembly, railway stations, carriages and cars, as well as other public conveyances, by the owners and occupiers and persons having care and ordering of them;
(d) regulating, so far as the Legislature has jurisdiction in this behalf, with a view to preventing the spread of contagious or infectious disease, the entry or departure of boats or vessels at the different ports or places in British Columbia, and the landing of passengers or cargo from the boats or vessels, or from railway carriages or cars, and the receiving of passengers or cargo on board of them;
(e) the safe and speedy interment of the dead and the conduct of funerals, with a view to preventing the spread of contagious or infectious diseases;
(f) the supplying of medical aid and accommodation and medicine and other articles considered necessary for mitigating epidemic, endemic, infectious or contagious disease;
(g) house to house visitation;
(h) the inspection of houses, schools, churches, railway stations and other buildings, steamboats, vessels, railway carriages and cars and public conveyances by the local board, or an officer, and the cleansing, purifying and disinfecting of them, and anything contained in them, when required by the local board or officer, at the expense of the owner, occupier or the person having the care and ordering of them, and for detaining for this purpose the steamboat, vessel, railway carriage and car or public conveyance and anything contained in them, as long as necessary, and any person travelling by them;
(i) preventing the departure of persons from localities infected with epidemic, endemic, infectious or contagious disease, and for preventing persons or conveyances from passing from one locality to another, and for detaining persons or conveyances that have been exposed to infection, for inspection or disinfection, until the danger of infection is past;
(j) requiring the appointment in municipalities of sanitary police, to be paid by the municipality in which they act, to assist and carry out the health regulations in force in the municipality, and for the appointment of sanitary police in any rural area;
(k) the removal, under the direction of a medical practitioner, or keeping under surveillance of persons living in localities infected with epidemic, endemic, infectious or contagious disease;
(l) preventing or mitigating epidemic, endemic, infectious or contagious disease in any other manner that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers expedient.
(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by regulation, declare any of the regulations made under subsection (1) or (2) to be in force in all or any part of the district of any local board, municipality or rural area, and, so far as the Legislature has jurisdiction, to apply to boats, vessels, railway carriages and cars or other conveyances in any portion of British Columbia.
(4) While regulations made under subsection (1) or (2) are in force in any municipality or health district, as provided by this section, all bylaws of the local board of the municipality or health district, and any bylaw or regulation of a municipality or its council, that in any manner conflict with the regulations are suspended.
17 [Repealed 1999-12-5.]
18 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may also make regulations for taking possession of any land or any building on it, by the authority of the minister, local board or health officers, for any of the purposes referred to in section 16 or 96.
(2) The regulations made under subsection (1) must not authorize the taking or obtaining for the hospital of a municipality any land or buildings within the limits of another municipality without the consent of the other municipality.
19 In case of actual or apprehended emergency, possession under section 18 may be taken without a prior agreement with the owner of the land or building and without the owner's consent, and may be retained for a period as may appear to the minister, or officers who took possession, to be necessary.
20 (1) If possession is taken without the consent of the owner, the minister or health officer by whom or under whose direction or authority possession is taken must within 5 days after taking possession give notice of it to the owner, the notice to be according to the form prescribed, or to the same effect.
(2) If an owner is not known, or is not resident in British Columbia or the owner's residence in British Columbia is unknown to the minister or health officer required to give the notice, the minister or health officer must
(a) publish the notice for 2 insertions in a local newspaper, and
(b) mail to the last known address, if any, of the owner a copy of the notice in a registered letter prepaid,
and that publication is sufficient notice to the owner.
21 If any land or building is taken, used or occupied under section 18 or 19, compensation must be determined by the Expropriation Compensation Board established under the Expropriation Act.
22 If any resistance or forcible opposition is offered or apprehended to possession being taken of any land or building under this Act or the regulations, the Supreme Court may, without notice to any person, issue a warrant to a sheriff, or to any person, as the court may consider most suitable, requiring him or her to put the minister or health officer, or other proper authority, as the case may be, their or his or her servants or agents, in possession, and to put down the resistance or opposition, which the sheriff or the other person, taking with him or her sufficient assistance, must accordingly do.
23 A building to be used for any of the purposes referred to in sections 16 and 96 must not be nearer than 137 m to an inhabited dwelling, except by special permission of the minister.
24 A certificate of approval of the source of mineral water supply from the minister is a requirement in the application for a licence for a mineral trading purpose under the Water Act.
25 A common sewer or system of sewerage must not be established or continued unless there is maintained with it a system of sewage purification and disposal that removes any menace to public health, and the minister may call for, and any municipal council, person or corporation must, when requested, provide as soon as possible, the information and data in relation to the matters under their control as the minister may consider necessary.
Part 3 – Local Health Boards and Officials
26 (1) The council of every city municipality in British Columbia must appoint a medical practitioner to be the medical health officer of the municipality.
(2) A medical health officer appointed under subsection (1) must perform the duties provided for in this Act in addition to the duties imposed on the medical health officer under the Local Government Act and any resolution or bylaw passed under that Act.
(3) The medical health officer must receive the remuneration set by the council that appoints him or her, to be paid by the municipality, and the medical health officer holds office during the pleasure of the council.
(4) The appointment and dismissal of a medical health officer is subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
(5) A medical health officer does not have any right of action against the municipality for dismissal or wrongful dismissal.
(6) A medical health officer holds office during pleasure only, and is only entitled to remuneration up to the date of his or her removal from office.
27 (1) Despite section 26, if a regional board has responsibility for the administration of health services in a regional district, it may, subject to the approval of the minister, appoint a medical practitioner to be the medical health officer of the regional district.
(2) A medical health officer appointed under subsection (1) must perform the duties provided for in this Act in addition to the duties imposed on the medical health officer under the Local Government Act and any resolution or bylaw passed under that Act.
(3) The regional board must set the remuneration, terms and conditions of employment, and pay the medical health officer appointed under subsection (1).
(4) A medical health officer appointed under subsection (1) remains in office at the pleasure of the regional board but must not be dismissed except on a resolution passed by 2/3 of all the directors of the regional board having among them 2/3 of all the votes on the regional board.
(5) A medical practitioner dismissed under subsection (4) may appeal to the minister.
28 If the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers the appointment of a medical health officer necessary for any township or district municipality and requests the council of that municipality to appoint a medical health officer, the council must promptly appoint a medical practitioner to be medical health officer for the municipality but the appointment and the dismissal of the medical health officer is subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
29 (1) The minister may, by notice served on or sent by registered mail to a municipality, request the municipal council to appoint a medical health officer.
(2) If the council does not appoint a medical health officer within 5 days of a request under subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may appoint a medical health officer for the municipality.
30 (1) If a medical health officer
(a) is incapable of performing his or her duties,
(b) resigns his or her appointment, or
(c) dies,
a municipal council may, subject to the approval of the minister, appoint a medical health officer as a temporary replacement for a term not exceeding 6 months.
(2) An appointment made under subsection (1) may, subject to the approval of the minister, be renewed once.
31 (1) If there is a union of 2 or more municipalities in the manner specified in section 43, sections 26 to 30 apply, except that the power and duty of appointing or removing a medical health officer is with the union board, subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, in case of the default of the union board, appoint a medical health officer for the union.
(2) Any union board may appoint assistant medical health officers as may be necessary, in the same manner and according to the same conditions as are specified for the appointment of the medical health officer, and the medical health officer may delegate his or her powers and duties to the assistants appointed.
(3) If a medical health officer appointed under subsection (1) is also employed in another position under the Public Service Act and is dismissed from that other position for cause, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may remove him or her as medical health officer.
32 If the appointment of a medical health officer is made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the medical health officer is entitled to recover from the municipality or union of municipalities, reasonable compensation for his or her services, to be awarded and set by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
33 (1) If a medical health officer is appointed, he or she is the chief health and sanitary official for the municipality or union of municipalities to which he or she is appointed, and has all the powers and authority possessed by any health officer or public health inspector under this Act.
(2) The medical health officer must perform all duties imposed on him or her by any regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and the fact that similar duties are by statute imposed on the local board does not relieve the medical health officer from the performance of the duties.
(3) If the minister considers that circumstances so require, on the written authority and designation of the minister, a health officer so designated has all the powers and authority of a health officer in a designated health unit in British Columbia, and has all the powers and authority under this Act of the health officer in that health unit.
(4) Subject to any other enactment, a health officer may, in writing, delegate to any person a power granted to him or her or a duty imposed on him or her under this or another enactment.
(5) If a board of school trustees merges its health services with those of a union board, under section 43, the medical health officer of the union board must also act as school medical officer for the schools within the jurisdiction of that board of school trustees.
34 (1) If the Lieutenant Governor in Council believes it advisable that a medical health officer should be appointed for any health district, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may appoint a medical health officer for that health district.
(2) A medical health officer appointed under subsection (1) has, in the health district, similar powers and duties to those referred to in section 33.
34.1 (1) No action for damages lies or may be brought against a health officer, a medical health officer, a public health inspector or a person acting under section 33 (4) because of anything done or omitted
(a) in the performance or intended performance of any duty under this Act, or
(b) in the exercise or intended exercise of any power under this Act,
unless the person was acting in bad faith.
(2) Subsection (1) does not absolve a person from vicarious liability arising out of an act or omission of a person referred to in that subsection for which the first person would be vicariously liable if this section were not in force.
35 (1) A health unit must
(a) carry out technical health services for a local board or boards or for one or more boards of school trustees, or both, and
(b) perform the other duties imposed by or under this Act.
(2) A health unit has the powers conferred by or under this Act.
(3) The staff of a health unit must include persons professionally or vocationally qualified for their duties to the satisfaction of the Deputy Minister of Health.
36 (1) In this section:
"local authority" means a municipal council, regional district board, board of school trustees or other body of which some or all of the members are elected at a local election;
"local election" means an election or voting on any other matter
(a) under Part 3 or 4 of the Local Government Act as those Parts apply to elections or other voting under that Act or any other Act, or
(b) under Part I or II of the Vancouver Charter as those Parts apply to elections or other voting under that Act or any other Act.
(2) If it appears that it would be dangerous to hold a local election because of the presence of an epidemic or contagious disease, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may postpone the local election for a period of up to 3 months and, in relation to this, may give any order the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers appropriate regarding the local election.
(3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make consecutive orders under subsection (2) if this appears necessary.
(4) If an order under subsection (2) does not specify a new general voting day for the local election, as soon as reasonably possible after the end of the postponement, the local authority must set a new general voting day or direct the chief election officer to set a new general voting day.
(5) If a local election postponed under this section is the general election for the local authority, as opposed to a by-election, the elected members of the local authority whose offices would have been filled by the postponed election continue to hold office until their successors take office following the election when it is in fact held.
37 A local board of health is established in each municipality, consisting of the council of the municipality.
38 In rural areas, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may mark out and define health districts, and vary them as may seem proper, and make orders, rules and regulations for the establishment, disestablishment, election, appointment, discharge, management, maintenance, jurisdiction, powers, duties and functions of local boards of health, officers and employees for the districts, concerning all matters in any way relating to public health, or dealt with by this Act, including the power of levying special rates and taxes within the jurisdiction of each health district for the preservation of the public health in the district.
39 (1) In a rural area, if no local board has been established or exists, and until otherwise provided for under this Act or by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, the government agent has, in the district of which he or she is in charge for the time being, and must exercise the powers and duties of a local board, and the government agent is deemed to be a local board of health.
(2) In all places where there is no government agent in charge, the powers and duties referred to in subsection (1) devolve on the commissioner or any officer or constable of the Provincial police, who is deemed to be a local board of health for those places.
40 As soon as any portion of British Columbia is organized into a municipality, or is included in or annexed to a municipality, sections 38 and 39 cease to apply.
41 A municipal council may appoint a medical health officer and a public health inspector or inspectors for the municipality, and may set the salaries to be paid to them, or 2 or more municipal councils may unite in the appointment of any of those officers, and the appointment of a medical health officer is subject to the approval of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
42 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, with the consent of the local board or union board, as the case may be, provide that the medical health officer, or other sanitary officer or officers of the local or union board, as the case may be, must act in the capacity the Lieutenant Governor in Council may decide in any rural area adjoining the municipality, or union of municipalities, as well as in the municipality.
(2) If the Lieutenant Governor in Council provides as set out in subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, out of any money available under this Act, pay to the local board or union board the contributions toward the keeping up of its staff as may be arranged or considered just and reasonable.
43 (1) A municipality may, by bylaw, do either of the following:
(a) join with another municipality that adopts a concurrent and similar bylaw in establishing a union board of health on which each of the municipalities is represented;
(b) become represented on a union board.
(2) In either of the circumstances referred to in subsection (1), a municipality must appoint one or more members of the council of the municipality to represent it on the union board.
(3) The minister may extend the jurisdiction of a union board to include a defined rural area, and in that event may, if the minister believes it necessary, appoint a person to represent the area on the union board.
(4) If a regional district is incorporated, a member of the regional board of that regional district may be appointed as the representative of the regional board on the union board.
(5) A board of school trustees may, by bylaw, transfer the administration and carrying out of the services and duties that the board of school trustees is required or authorized to provide or carry out under the School Act to a union board.
(6) On making a transfer under subsection (5), a board of school trustees must appoint one or more than one member of the board of school trustees as that board's representative or representatives on the union board.
(7) Representation of a municipality or board of school trustees on a union board must be maintained as prescribed by bylaw.
(8) A municipality or board of school trustees represented on a union board may, by bylaw, not less than 6 months after notice of the adoption or making of the bylaw has been given to the union board, withdraw from the union board, after which the municipality or board of school trustees is no longer represented on the union board.
(9) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by order, authorize the assumption of the exercise of the powers and duties of a union board of health by a regional district or by any grouping of municipalities or electoral areas, or both, within a regional district, at which time the jurisdiction of the union board of health ceases and is conferred on the regional district, or on the municipalities and electoral areas, as the case may be, and the order may further provide that the regional district or the municipalities and electoral areas must exercise the powers and duties of local boards of health within its jurisdiction.
44 (1) A union board must exercise coordinating, supervisory, advisory and consultative functions in the administration of health services in the area within the jurisdiction of the union board, but must not exercise any legislative function in that regard.
(2) A union board must, in rural areas within its jurisdiction other than by virtue of being part of the area within the jurisdiction of a board of school trustees represented on the union board, exercise and carry out the powers and duties of a local board.
(3) Legislative authority within the respective jurisdictions remains with the municipal councils and boards of school trustees.
45 A union board must elect a chair, and may elect one of its members or appoint some other person as its secretary.
46 (1) One or more than one municipality or one or more than one board of school trustees, or both, may together with one or more than one union board of health establish, by agreement, a metropolitan board of health, after which each of those municipalities and boards is entitled to be represented on the metropolitan board of health.
(2) The minister may appoint one or more persons as members of a metropolitan board of health established under this section.
(3) A union board or board of school trustees or municipality may, by resolution and with the concurrence of a metropolitan board of health, become represented on the metropolitan board of health.
(4) Representation of a municipality and of a board on a metropolitan board of health and all matters governing the procedure of and transaction of business by the metropolitan board of health must be determined by agreement between the boards and the municipalities entitled to be represented on the metropolitan board of health.
(5) A metropolitan board of health must exercise coordinating, supervisory, advisory and consultative functions, and other functions, powers and duties the minister may specify, in the administration of health services in the area within the jurisdiction of the boards and municipalities represented on the metropolitan board of health, but must not exercise any legislative function in that regard.
(6) A municipality or board represented on a metropolitan board of health may, by resolution, not less than 6 months after notice of the adoption of the resolution has been given to the metropolitan board, withdraw from the metropolitan board, the withdrawal to become effective only on the closing day of their calendar year, after which the municipality or board is no longer represented on the metropolitan board.
(7) The minister may extend the jurisdiction of the metropolitan board of health to include a defined rural area, and in that event
(a) the area must be represented on the metropolitan board of health by a person appointed by the minister,
(b) a variation must not be effected in any agreement made under or referred to in subsection (4), and an agreement must not be made under subsection (4) without the approval of the minister,
(c) subsection (5) applies to the area, and
(d) the minister may, after not less than 6 months' notice has been given to the metropolitan board, withdraw the defined area from the metropolitan board, the withdrawal to become effective only on the closing day of the calendar year, after which the area is no longer represented on the metropolitan board.
(8) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may, by order, authorize the assumption of the exercise of the powers and duties of a metropolitan board of health by a regional district as defined in the Local Government Act, at which time the jurisdiction of the metropolitan board of health ceases and is conferred on the regional district, and the order may further provide that the regional district must exercise the powers and duties of local boards of health within its jurisdiction.
47 The municipal council of every municipality must in each year vote sums necessary for the carrying on of the work of the local board for the year in the municipality.
48 A majority of the members of a local board is a quorum for the transaction of business.
49 (1) In municipalities or health districts where the local board consists of more than 2 persons, there must be a secretary to the board, and a minute book must be provided in which the secretary must record the proceedings of the local board.
(2) The secretary must draft an annual report of the sanitary work done during the year, and of the sanitary condition of the municipality or health district, for the consideration of the local board.
(3) When the report under subsection (2) is adopted, it must be transmitted to the Provincial health officer.
(4) The report under subsection (2) must include the annual report of the medical health officer, and if there is no medical health officer, then of the public health inspector, if there is one.
50 If a local board has the authority to direct that a matter or thing should be done by a person, the local board may also, if the person fails to do the matter or thing, direct that the matter or thing be done at the expense of the person in default, and may recover the expense of the matter or thing done with costs in a summary manner on the order of a court under the Offence Act.
51 The local boards must
(a) superintend and see to the execution of any regulations made under this Act, or execute or aid in executing the regulations within their respective jurisdictions, and
(b) do and provide all acts, matters and things necessary for superintending or aiding in the execution of the regulations, or for executing the regulations, as the case may require.
52 (1) Every butcher selling or offering for sale any slaughtered animal, or any part of it, in the limits of a municipality must, on the request of the minister or of the local board, make affidavit as to the place at which the slaughter of the animals is carried on.
(2) If the place at which the slaughter of animals is carried on is outside of the limits of the municipality, the slaughterhouses must be open to inspection by any member of the local board or by the public health inspector or medical health officer of the municipality where the meat is offered for sale.
(3) A butcher who refuses to make the affidavit referred to in subsection (1) and permit the inspection referred to in subsection (2) is subject to the penalties prescribed under section 104 if he or she continues to sell or offer for sale any slaughtered animal or part of it after notification to discontinue has been given by the medical health officer.
53 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may adopt, and enforce through the local boards, regulations regarding the source of supply and the place of storage of all ice procured, imported or stored for sale or consumption in British Columbia that are, in the opinion of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, best adapted to secure the purity of the ice and prevent injury to public health.
(2) The powers and duties of a local board in the enforcement of the regulations extend to the supervision of ice supplies, whether obtained in or outside of the limits of the municipality, if the ice is intended for use in the municipality in which the local board has jurisdiction.
54 (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may adopt, and enforce through the local boards, regulations regarding the source of supply, quality, purity, place of storage and mode of sale of all vegetables procured, imported or stored for sale or consumption in British Columbia that are, in the opinion of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, best adapted to prevent injury to public health.
(2) The powers and duties of a local board extend to the supervision of all vegetable supplies, whether obtained in or outside of the limits of the municipality, if the vegetables are intended for use in the municipality in which the local board has jurisdiction.
55 (1) A local board must cause its district to be inspected in order to prevent health hazards and unsanitary conditions.
(2) In addition to the requirements of the Waste Management Act, a person who causes or permits the discharge into the land, water or air of a substance that is, or may be, a health hazard must
(a) promptly notify the medical health officer in writing of the location, time, duration, nature and quantity of the discharge of the substance, and
(b) take immediate action to prevent and cease the discharge.
56 (1) The minister or any member of a local board, and a medical health officer or public health inspector, or any person authorized by the minister or a local or union board, may at all reasonable times inspect or examine any animal, carcass, meat, poultry, game, flesh, fish, fruit, vegetable, grain, bread, flour, milk, candy or other eatable exposed for sale or deposited in any place for the purpose of sale, or for preparation for sale, and intended for food for humans.
(2) The burden of proof that an eatable referred to in subsection (1) was not exposed or deposited for any purpose referred to in that subsection, or was not intended for food for humans is on the party charged.
(3) If any animal, carcass, meat, poultry, game, flesh, fish, fruit, vegetable, grain, bread, flour, milk, candy or other eatable, on the inspection, appears to the person inspecting it to be a health hazard, it may be immediately seized and carried away and destroyed or disposed of in order to prevent it from being exposed for sale or used for food for humans.
(4) The person to whom the eatable belongs, or did belong at the time of exposure for sale, or in whose possession or on whose premises it was found, is liable on conviction
(a) to a penalty not exceeding $100 for every animal, carcass, fish, or piece of meat, flesh or fish, or any poultry or game, or for the fruit, vegetable, grain, bread or flour, or for the milk, candy or other eatable condemned, or
(b) at the discretion of the convicting justice, without the imposition of a fine, to imprisonment for a term of not more than 3 months.
57 Information of any health hazard or unsanitary condition under this Act within the jurisdiction of a local board may be given to the local board by
(a) any person aggrieved by the hazard or condition,
(b) any 2 inhabitant householders,
(c) any officer of the local board, or
(d) any constable or officer of any police force or police department within the jurisdiction of the board.
58 (1) If information has been given to a local board under section 57, the local board must investigate the cause of the complaint.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the local board or any 2 of its members
(a) may hear the testimony of all persons who come before it to testify about the matter, and
(b) have the same authority as a justice to require and compel the attendance of witnesses and the giving of evidence.
59 (1) Subject to subsection (1.1), a local board may make an order under this section if any of the following apply:
(a) an order under section 63 against an owner or occupier of land or premises within its area or jurisdiction has not been complied with and the medical health officer requests the local board to act under this section;
(b) the local board has reason to believe that a health hazard exists;
(c) the medical health officer advises the local board that a health hazard exists.
(1.1) If a health hazard referred to in subsection (1) appears to be wholly or partially caused by an act or default committed outside its area of jurisdiction, the board may make an order under this section that is effective outside that area, but only on the recommendation of the Provincial health officer.
(1.2) If authorized under this section, the local board may, as applicable,
(a) order the owner or occupier of the land or premises on which the health hazard exists or from which the health hazard arises to terminate the health hazard in accordance with the order, or
(b) order the owner or occupier to comply with the order under section 63, with a view to taking action in default under subsection (3) of this section if the person does not comply.
(1.3) An order under this section
(a) must be served on the owner or occupier to whom it is directed, and
(b) must set out the reasons why it was made, what the owner or occupier is required to do and the time within which this must be done.
(1.4) If the order is directed to an occupier, a copy of the order must also be promptly served on the owner.
(2) If it appears that the health hazard does not arise or is not continued by the act or default of the owner or occupier or from the nature of the premises themselves, and it is therefore improper that the owner or occupier should be required to terminate the health hazard, the local board may terminate the health hazard at the expense of the municipality, if in a municipality, and if in a rural area, then, subject to the approval of the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, out of money voted by the Legislature available for the purposes of this Act.
(3) If a local board makes an order under this section, the local board may
(a) direct that, if the person fails to take the action required by the order, the action is to be done at the expense of that person, with the costs and expenses recoverable under section 74 or 75, and
(b) authorize officers, employees and agents of the local board to enter at all reasonable times on or into any property that is subject to the order for the purpose of
(i) determining whether the order is being complied with, or
(ii) taking action in default under paragraph (a).
(4) As restrictions on subsection (3),
(a) except in the case of an emergency, a person authorized under that subsection must take reasonable steps to notify the owner or occupier before entering the property, and
(b) the authority must not be used to enter a private dwelling except with the consent of the occupant or as authorized by a warrant under this or another Act.
60 [Repealed 2001-9-75.]
61 (1) A health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector may enter on or into any property and conduct an inspection for the purpose of determining
(a) whether a health hazard exists, or
(b) whether this Act and the regulations are being complied with.
(2) The authority under subsection (1) must not be used to enter a private dwelling except with the consent of the occupant or as authorized by a warrant under this or another Act.
(3) An inspection under subsection (1) may be conducted
(a) at any reasonable hour of the day or night, or
(b) at any other time if the person conducting the inspection has reason to believe that a health hazard exists.
(4) A person conducting an inspection under subsection (1) may do one or more of the following for the purposes of the inspection:
(a) bring along any equipment or materials required for the inspection and be accompanied and assisted by a person who has special, expert or professional knowledge of a matter relevant to the inspection;
(b) inspect any records that may be relevant to the purpose of the inspection and make copies of them or remove them temporarily for the purpose of making copies;
(c) require a person to produce within a reasonable time records in the person's possession or control that may be relevant;
(d) inspect any works, equipment, clothing, food, medication, other substances, animals or any other thing at the place;
(e) take photographs or make other recordings in respect of the place;
(f) take samples and perform tests, including tests in which a sample is destroyed;
(g) require that a place not be disturbed for a reasonable period of time or that a tool, equipment, machine, device or other thing or process be operated or set in motion or that a system or procedure be carried out;
(h) question persons with respect to matters that may be relevant, require persons to attend to answer questions and require questions to be answered on oath or affirmation;
(i) attend a relevant training program of an employer;
(j) exercise other powers that may be necessary or incidental to the carrying out of the person's functions and duties under this Act or the regulations.
(5) If a health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector removes any records under subsection (4) (b), the officer or inspector must
(a) give a receipt for the records to the person from whom they were taken, and
(b) promptly return the records when they have served the purposes for which they were taken.
(6) If a person conducting an inspection under this section requests this, a peace officer may assist the person in carrying out his or her functions and duties under this Act or the regulations.
61.1 If satisfied by evidence on oath or affirmation that access on or into property is necessary for the purposes of this Act, a justice may issue a warrant authorizing a person named in the warrant to enter on or into property and conduct an inspection or take other action as authorized by the warrant.
62 (1) In addition to the power of a justice to issue a warrant under section 61.1, if an owner or occupier of a place
(a) refuses to allow a health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector to exercise powers under section 61, or
(b) hinders or interferes with a health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector in the exercise of those powers,
the Supreme Court, on application by the health officer, medical health officer or a public health inspector, may order that the owner or occupier do or refrain from doing those things the court considers necessary in order that the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector can exercise the powers.
(2) An application under subsection (1) may be made without notice to any person if the court considers it proper to do so.
63 (1) If, after an inspection under section 61, the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector has reason to believe that
(a) a health hazard exists,
(b) there is a significant risk of an imminent health hazard, or
(c) the place that was the subject of inspection or the owner or occupier of it is in contravention of this Act or the regulations,
the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector may issue an order under this section.
(1.1) An order under this section may be directed to
(a) a person whose action or omission resulted in or significantly contributed to the health hazard, significant risk or contravention,
(b) a person who had possession, charge or control of the condition or thing that constitutes the health hazard or risk at the time it arose, or
(c) the owner or occupier of the place where the health hazard, risk or contravention exists.
(2) An order under this section must be served on the person to whom it is directed, and must set out the reasons it was made, what the person is required to do and the time within which this must be done.
(3) If the order is directed to a person who is not the registered owner of the property on which the action is required to be taken, a copy of the order must also be served on the registered owner.
(4) An order may include, but is not limited to, provisions for the following:
(a) requiring the vacating of the place or a part of it;
(b) declaring the place or a part of it to be unfit for human habitation;
(c) requiring the closure of the place or a part of it;
(d) requiring the doing of work specified in the order, in, on or about the place;
(e) requiring the removal from the place or the vicinity of the place of anything that the order states causes a health hazard;
(f) requiring the destruction of anything specified in the order;
(g) prohibiting or regulating the selling, offering for sale, supplying, distributing, displaying, manufacturing, preparing, preserving, processing, packaging, serving, storing, transporting or handling of food or thing in, on, to or from the place.
(5) If the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector considers the situation is urgent, that official may issue an order orally, in which case the official must serve a written version of the order in accordance with this section as soon as reasonably possible.
(6) If a health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector makes an order under this section, that official may
(a) direct that, if the person fails to take the action required by the order, the required action is to be done at the expense of that person, with the costs and expenses incurred recoverable under section 74 or 75, and
(b) enter or authorize other persons to enter on or into any property that is subject to the order for the purpose of
(i) determining whether the order is being complied with, or
(ii) taking action in default under paragraph (a).
(6.1) As restrictions on subsection (6),
(a) except in the case of an emergency, before taking action under that subsection, the person making the order must give notice to the person subject to the order,
(b) except in the case of an emergency, a person authorized to enter property under that subsection must take reasonable steps to notify the owner or occupier before entering the property, and
(c) the authority must not be used to enter a private dwelling except with the consent of the occupant or as authorized by a warrant under this or another Act.
(7) If an order is issued under subsection (4) (a), (b) or (c), the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector must ensure that a copy of the order, or in the case of an oral order, a notice of the requirements of the order, is posted in a conspicuous place at, on or near the public place or private place to which the order relates.
(8) A health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector must
(a) maintain a record of all orders issued under subsection (4) (a), (b) or (c), and
(b) make the record available for inspection by the public during the business hours of his or her office.
(9) If, in the course of an inspection under this Act, the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector is of the opinion that a condition of emergency exists due to the existence of a health hazard, the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector may, despite anything in this Act, promptly take any steps the health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector considers appropriate to remove or lessen the health hazard.
64 (1) If, on an examination of premises under this Act, the medical health officer finds a person who
(a) is suffering from grave chronic disease, or
(b) [Repealed RS1996 (Supp)-179-5.]
(c) is residing in the premises under such conditions that he or she is creating a health hazard,
and if the medical health officer believes it necessary in the interest of the health of the person that he or she should be removed from the premises, the medical health officer may on giving 4 days' notice to the person apply to the Provincial Court or 2 justices having territorial jurisdiction where the premises are located for an order for the removal of the person to a hospital, nursing home, home for the aged or other suitable place, and for his or her detention in it.
(2) If the court or justices consider it to be in the best interests of the person sought to be removed under subsection (1), the court or justices may order the immediate removal of the person despite the 4 day notice requirement.
(3) If on a hearing, at which the person may adduce evidence and be represented by counsel, the court or justices are satisfied that the conditions set out in subsection (1) (a), (b) or (c) exist and that the person requires care and maintenance other than the care and maintenance the person is then receiving, the court or justices must make an order directing the removal of the person to a hospital, nursing home, home for the aged or other suitable place, that is in receipt of government or municipal financial aid, named in the order, for a term not exceeding 3 months, which order may, on reasonable cause being shown, be renewed for further successive periods not exceeding 3 months each and the place of detention may be changed.
(4) The order is sufficient authority to the medical health officer or any other person or persons designated in the order to take or convey the person whose removal is ordered to the place named in the order.
(5) The person in charge of the place referred to in subsection (4) must receive, detain, keep and care for the person whose removal is ordered for the period of 3 months and for any further period of 3 months under any renewal order, and the order is sufficient authority for the person in charge so doing.
65 (1) The health officers of a municipality, health district or rural area or a majority of them may also, by warrant under their signatures, authorize a medical practitioner to enter into or on any house, outhouse or premises in the daytime for the purpose of making an inquiry and examination about the state of health of a person in the house, outhouse or premises.
(2) A medical practitioner authorized under subsection (1) has the power fully and completely to examine physically and by question a person referred to in that subsection.
(3) A medical practitioner authorized under subsection (1), with the approval in writing of the minister, may require the person referred to in that subsection to permit specimens of his or her blood, sputum or other excreta to be taken for the purpose of examination, or to submit to Xray examination, and for the purpose of any examination may require the person to enter the nearest public hospital.
(4) The medical practitioner must promptly after his or her inquiry and examination file a written report of the result of the inquiry and examination, together with recommendations the medical practitioner may believe advisable, with the local board.
(5) The medical practitioner must also deliver a copy of the report and recommendations to the person examined or leave it for that person at the place where he or she was at the time of the examination.
(6) If it appears from the report made by the medical practitioner that a person found in any house, outhouse or premises is infected with a dangerously contagious or infectious disease, the health officers may carry out the recommendations contained in the report necessary in their opinion for the protection of the public, and they may isolate the person in the place where he or she was found or cause the person to be removed to a hospital or other place for isolation, observation or treatment, but a removal must not take place unless the medical practitioner states in his or her report that the person can be removed without danger to life, and that the person's removal is necessary in order to guard against the spread of the disease, or that proper isolation, observation or treatment of the person cannot conveniently be had in the place where he or she was found.
66 If a disease of a dangerous and malignant character is discovered to exist in any dwelling house or outhouse temporarily occupied as a dwelling in any place in British Columbia, and the dwelling house or outhouse is located in an unhealthy or crowded locality, or if the dwelling house or outhouse is found to be in a filthy and neglected state, or is inhabited by too many persons, the local board may compel the inhabitants of the dwelling house or outhouse to move from it, and may place them in sheds or tents, or other good shelter, in a more healthy situation, until measures can be taken, under the direction of the proper authority, for the immediate cleansing, ventilation, purification and disinfection of the dwelling house or outhouse.
67 If the owner or occupant of any dwelling or premises neglects or refuses to obey the orders given by the health officers, the health officers may
(a) call to their assistance all constables and peace officers, and other persons as they think fit,
(b) enter into the dwelling or premises and cleanse them, or may order or direct another person to do so at the cost of the owner or occupant,
(c) execute in the dwelling or premises the regulations made under this Act or any bylaw of the municipality, and
(d) remove from the dwelling or premises and destroy whatever it is necessary to remove or destroy for the preservation of public health.
68 A medical health officer may exercise any of the powers conferred on health officers by sections 61, 63 and 67, and may, without being specifically authorized by the local board, exercise any powers that under section 65 may be conferred on medical practitioners, and the local board may act on his or her report.
69 If under this Act, or any municipal bylaw, the local board or any health officer removes any dirt, filth, refuse, debris or other thing that
(a) is likely to endanger public health or to become or cause a health hazard, or
(b) is or is causing a health hazard,
the dirt, filth, refuse or other thing is subject to the disposition of the local board, or if the officer is acting under a bylaw of a municipal council, is subject to the disposition of the municipal council, and the owner of the thing does not have a claim in respect of it.
70 (1) If, on an investigation by a local board, any thing prejudicial to health or any health hazard is found to exist within its jurisdiction, and if after the local board has required the removal or termination of the thing or health hazard within a specified time the local board finds that default in the removal or termination has been made, and the case seems to the local board one involving considerations of difficulty, because the removal or termination involves the expenditure or loss of a considerable sum of money, or because any trade or industry is seriously interfered with, or because of other circumstances, the local board may apply to the Lieutenant Governor in Council to appoint a person to investigate and report on the case.
(2) If the report recommends the removal or termination of the health hazard or thing, the local board or any person aggrieved may apply to the Supreme Court for an order for the removal or termination of the health hazard or thing, and to restrain the proprietor of any trade or industry referred to in subsection (1) from carrying on that trade or industry until the health hazard or thing has been terminated to the satisfaction of the minister, and the court may issue the order on the report of the person appointed by the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and make another order it considers just.
71 [Repealed 2001-9-79.]
72 If information is obtained by the minister that any remediable unsanitary condition or health hazard exists in a municipality or rural area, the minister may institute an investigation and, if necessary, take sworn evidence concerning the condition or health hazard complained of.
73 (1) If on the investigation it is proved that a remediable unsanitary condition or health hazard exists, the minister may direct its immediate removal or termination by the person responsible for it.
(2) If the person referred to in subsection (1) neglects or refuses to remove or terminate the condition or health hazard, the minister may cause the removal or termination to be made.
74 (1) All reasonable costs and expenses incurred in terminating a health hazard or unsanitary condition are deemed to be money paid for the use and at the request of the person
(a) by whose act, default or sufferance the condition or health hazard was caused, or
(b) who is responsible for the health hazard or condition,
and the costs and expenses may be recovered by the local board or person who incurred them from the person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) as a debt.
(2) The court may divide the costs, expenses and penalties between persons by whose acts or defaults a health hazard or unsanitary condition is caused in the manner that the court considers just.
(3) In addition to recovery under subsection (1), if the person from whom the costs and expenses are recoverable is a property owner or an occupier of property that is subject to property taxation under the Local Government Act, Vancouver Charter or Taxation (Rural Area) Act, the costs and expenses may be recovered as follows:
(a) in the case of property within a municipality, the health officer or local board may file a certificate of costs and expenses with the municipality, which must collect the amount in the same manner as taxes against the property under the Local Government Act or the Vancouver Charter, as applicable;
(b) in the case of other property, the health officer or local board may file a certificate of costs and expenses with the Surveyor of Taxes, who must collect the amount in the same manner as taxes against the property under the Taxation (Rural Area) Act.
(4) If an amount is to be collected under subsection (3),
(a) the amount is deemed to be a municipal or Provincial tax, as applicable, and must be dealt with in the same manner as taxes against the property would be under the Local Government Act, Taxation (Rural Area) Act or Vancouver Charter, as applicable, and
(b) when collected, the collecting municipality or the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, as applicable, must pay the amount to the person to whom it is owed.
75 (1) Any costs or expenses recoverable from an owner of premises under this Act, or under any provision of law in respect of the termination of health hazards, may be recovered from the occupier for the time being of the premises.
(2) The owner must allow the occupier to deduct any money that he or she pays under this section out of the rent becoming due for the premises, as if the money had actually been paid to the owner as part of the rent.
(3) An occupier is not required to pay any further sum than the amount of rent for the time being due from the occupier, or that after demand of the costs or expenses from the occupier, and after notice not to pay his or her landlord any rent without first deducting the amount of the costs or expenses, becomes payable by the occupier, unless the occupier refuses truly to disclose the amount of his or her rent and the name and address of the person to whom rent is payable.
(4) The burden of proof that the sum demanded from the occupier is greater than the rent due by the occupier at the time of the notice, or that has since accrued, is on the occupier.
(5) Nothing in this section affects a contract between an owner or occupier of a house, building or other property, by which it is agreed that the occupier must pay or discharge all rates and dues and sums of money payable for the house, building or other property, or affects any contract between landlord and tenant.
76 If a local board is of the opinion, on the certificate of the medical health officer or of any other medical practitioner, that the cleansing and disinfecting of any house or part of it, and of any articles in it likely to retain infection, would tend to prevent or check infectious disease, the local board must give notice in writing to the owner or occupier of the house or part of it, requiring the owner or occupier to cleanse or disinfect, to the satisfaction of the medical health officer, if there is one, and, if not, to the satisfaction of the local board, the house or parts of it and articles within a time specified in the notice.
77 (1) If the person to whom notice is given fails to comply with the notice, the person is liable to a penalty of not less than $1 and not exceeding $10 for every day during which he or she continues to make default.
(2) The local board must cause the house or part of it and articles to be cleansed and disinfected, and may recover the expenses incurred from the owner or occupier in default in a summary manner.
78 If the owner or occupant of a house or part of it is, from poverty or otherwise, unable in the opinion of the local board to carry out efficiently the requirements of sections 76 and 77, the local board may, without enforcing the requirements on the owner or occupier, cleanse or disinfect the house or part of it and articles, and defray the expense of the cleansing or disinfection.
Part 5 – Dangerous Infectious or Contagious Diseases
79 The health officers of a municipality, or the local board of a municipality or health district, or any committee of them, may
(a) isolate any person who has smallpox or any other disease dangerous to public health, and
(b) cause to be posted up on or near the door of any house or dwelling in which the person is a notice stating that the disease is in the house or dwelling.
80 (1) If any householder knows or suspects, or has reason to know or suspect, that any person in his or her family or household has a contagious or infectious disease, he or she must, within 24 hours of the time the disease is known or suspected to exist, give notice of it to the medical health officer of the municipality or health district in which he or she resides.
(2) The notice referred to in subsection (1) must be given either at the office of the medical health officer or by a communication addressed to the medical health officer and mailed within the time specified in subsection (1), and if there is no medical health officer, then to the local board.
(3) A householder who refuses or neglects to give notice under subsection (1) is subject to the penalties provided by section 104.
81 A householder in whose dwelling there occurs any contagious or infectious disease must not permit
(a) any person suffering from the disease, or
(b) any infected clothing or other property,
to be removed from the house, without the consent of the local board or of the medical health officer, and the local board or medical health officer must specify the conditions of the removal.
82 (1) A person who is sick with any contagious or infectious disease must not be removed at any time except by permission and under direction and supervision of the local board or medical health officer or attending physician.
(2) An occupant of any house in which there exists any contagious or infectious disease, except typhoid fever, must not change his or her residence to any other place without the consent of the local board or of the medical health officer or attending physician, who must in either case specify conditions as aforesaid.
83 (1) If a physician knows or suspects, or has reason to know or suspect, that a person he or she is called on to visit is infected with smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, typhus or typhoid fever, cholera, measles, whooping cough, mumps or any other contagious or infectious disease, the physician must, within 24 hours after the knowledge or suspicion is acquired, give written notice of it to the medical health officer of the municipality or health district in which the diseased person is, and if there is no medical health officer, then to the local board.
(2) A physician who refuses or neglects to give notice under subsection (1) is subject to the penalties provided by this Act.
84 If smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria, cholera or any other contagious or infectious disease dangerous to public health is found to exist in any municipality, health district or rural area, the health officers or local board must
(a) use all possible care to prevent the spreading of the infection or contagion, and
(b) give public notice of infected places by those means that in their judgment are most effective for the common safety.
85 A person affected with smallpox, scarlet fever, diphtheria or cholera, and a person who has access to any person affected with any of those diseases, must not mingle with the general public until the regulations made under this Act in that behalf and the sanitary precautions as may be specified by the local board have been complied with.
86 (1) If there is reason to suspect that a person who has smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, cholera or typhoid fever is in or on any railway car, steamboat, sailing vessel or other public conveyance, the medical health officer, if there is one, or any member of the local board, or any person authorized in that behalf by the minister or the local board, either generally or for the special purpose, may enter the conveyance and cause the person to be removed from it and may detain the conveyance until it is properly disinfected, or the officer or member may, if he or she thinks fit, remain on or in the conveyance, with any assistance he or she may require, for the purpose of disinfecting it.
(2) The authority of the officer or member as a health officer continues in respect of the person and conveyance, even though the conveyance is taken into another jurisdiction.
87 If a person coming from abroad, or residing in a municipality, or health district or rural area in British Columbia, is infected, or lately before his or her arrival has been infected with or exposed to any of the said diseases, the health officers or local board where the person is may make effective provision in the manner which to them seems best for public safety, by removing the person to a separate house, or by otherwise isolating the person if it can be done without danger to his or her health, and by providing nurses and other assistance and necessaries for the person at the person's own cost and charge, or at the cost of his or her parents or other person or persons liable for his or her support, if able to pay it, or if the other person or persons are unable to pay it, then at the cost and charge of the local board, or in a rural area at the cost of the government, to be paid, with the approval of the Minister of Finance and Corporate Relations, out of money voted by the Legislature available for the purposes of this Act.
88 (1) A person recovering from any of the said diseases, or a nurse who has been in attendance on any person suffering from any such disease, must not leave the premises where the person suffering from the disease is, at any time, until they have received from the attending physician or medical health officer a certificate that in his or her opinion they have taken precautions as to their persons, clothing and all other things that they propose to take from the premises necessary to ensure the immunity from infection of other persons with whom they may come in contact, and further complied with any regulations made under this Act in that behalf.
(2) A person referred to in subsection (1) must not expose himself or herself in any public place, shop, street, inn or public conveyance without having first obtained the certificate and complied with the regulations.
89 A person referred to in section 88 must adopt, for the disinfection and disposal of excreta and for the destruction and disinfection of utensils, bedding, clothing and other things that have been exposed to infection, measures prescribed under this Act or specified by the medical health officer, or in the event of no measures having been prescribed under this Act or specified by the medical health officer, then measures required by the attending physician.
90 The owner or person in charge of any conveyance who has conveyed in it any infected person must not, after the entry of an infected person into his or her conveyance, allow any other person to enter until he or she has sufficiently disinfected it under the direction of the local board, or under the supervision of the medical health officer or public health inspector.
91 A person must not give, lend, transmit, sell or expose any bedding, clothing or other article likely to convey any of the aforesaid diseases without having first complied with the regulations made under this Act as to disinfection and otherwise in that behalf.
92 (1) A local board may provide a proper place or portable furnace, with all necessary apparatus and attendance, for the disinfection of bedding, clothing or other articles that have become infected.
(2) A local board may cause the articles referred to in subsection (1) to be disinfected free of charge, or may make reasonable charges for the disinfecting of the articles, as may be provided by bylaw in municipalities, or, if there is no such bylaw, and in rural areas, by regulations made under this Act.
93 A local board may direct the destruction of any bedding, clothing or other articles that have been exposed to infection, and compensation may be given for the articles by the proper authority.
94 (1) A person must not let or hire any house or room in a house in which a case of smallpox, cholera, scarlatina, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, glanders or other contagious or infectious diseases has recently existed, without having caused the house and premises used in connection with it to be disinfected to the satisfaction of the medical health officer, or, if there is no medical health officer, of the local board.
(2) For the purposes of this section, the keeper of an inn or house for the reception of lodgers is deemed to let for hire part of a house to any person admitted as a guest into the inn or house.
95 A person who lets for hire, or shows for the purpose of letting for hire, any house or part of a house, on being questioned by any person negotiating for the hire of the house or part of a house as to the fact of there previously having been in it any person suffering from any infectious disorder, or any animal or thing infected by any infectious disorder, must not knowingly make a false answer to the questions.
96 (1) A municipality may establish or erect and maintain one or more hospitals for the reception of persons having smallpox or any other infectious or contagious disease that may be dangerous to public health.
(2) Any 2 or more municipalities may join in establishing, erecting or maintaining a hospital described in subsection (1).
(3) A hospital described in subsection (1) must not be erected by one municipality within the limits of another municipality without first obtaining the consent of the other municipality to the proposed erection.
97 If a hospital is established under section 96, the physician attending the hospital, or the sick in it, the nurses, other employees and all persons who approach or come within the limits of the hospital, and all furniture and other articles used or brought there, are subject to the regulations made under this Act.
98 (1) If smallpox or any other infectious or contagious disease dangerous to public health breaks out in a municipality or rural area, the health officer or local board, if a hospital or hospital tent has not already been provided, must immediately provide a temporary hospital, hospital tent or other place of reception for the sick and infected as the officer or board judges best for their accommodation and the safety of the inhabitants, at the cost of the municipality, if in a municipality, or in a rural area at the cost of the proper authority.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), the health officer or local board may
(a) erect a hospital tent, hospital or place of reception,
(b) contract for the use of any such hospital or part of a hospital or place of reception, whether inside or outside the same jurisdiction, or
(c) enter into an agreement with the person who has the management of any hospital, for the reception of the sick inhabitants of the district, on payment of the annual or other sum to be agreed on,
or 2 or more local boards may combine in providing a common hospital.
99 The hospital or place of reception is subject to regulations made by the Lieutenant Governor in Council.
100 If a local board or a health officer is required or empowered under this Act, or any Act relating to public health, or under any regulations made under those Acts, to disinfect any person or thing or to isolate any person, the local board or health officer may use the force and employ the assistance necessary in order to accomplish what is required.
101 A local board, or any member of it, or any medical health officer or public health inspector may, when obstructed in the performance of his or her duty, call to his or her assistance any constable or other person he or she thinks fit, and every constable or person called on must render assistance.
Part 6 – Miscellaneous Provisions
102 (1) If a local board, health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector issues an order, the person against whom the order is made, or any one aggrieved by it, may, within 10 days from the date that person is served with a copy of the order in writing, appeal from the order to the Supreme Court.
(2) The Supreme Court may, on good cause shown, vary or rescind the order made.
(3) An order varied under subsection (2) may be enforced by the local board, health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector in the same manner as an order originally made by the local board, health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector.
103 A person who
(a) in any manner, prevents or obstructs the minister or a member of the local board, a health officer, a public health inspector or any person authorized by the minister or by a member of the local board from entering any premises subject to this Act and inspecting anything in the premises, or
(b) obstructs or impedes any of the persons referred to in paragraph (a) in the performance of their duties in carrying out the provisions of this Act
is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2 000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or to both, and each day the offence continues constitutes a separate offence.
104 (1) A person who contravenes this Act or a regulation, bylaw, order, direction or permit under this Act commits an offence.
(2) Unless a lower penalty is specified by regulation or this Act, a person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction to the following:
(a) in the case of an offence that is not a continuing offence, a fine of not more than $200 000 or imprisonment for not longer than 12 months, or both;
(b) in the case of a continuing offence, a fine of not more than $200 000 for each day the offence is continued or imprisonment for not longer than 12 months, or both.
104.1 (1) If a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, in addition to any punishment imposed, the court may, having regard to the nature of the offence and the circumstances surrounding its commission, make an order containing one or more of the following prohibitions, directions or requirements:
(a) prohibiting the person from doing any act or engaging in any activity that may, in the opinion of the court, result in the continuation or repetition of the offence;
(b) directing the person to take any action the court considers appropriate to remedy or avoid any harm to the environment that resulted or may result from the commission of the offence;
(c) directing the person to pay the government an amount of money as compensation, in whole or in part, for the cost of any remedial or preventive action taken by or caused to be taken on behalf of the government as a result of the commission of the offence;
(d) directing the person to perform community service;
(e) directing the person to post a bond or pay into court an amount of money the court considers appropriate for the purpose of ensuring compliance with any prohibition, direction or requirement under this section;
(f) directing the person to submit to the minister, on application by the minister within 3 years after the date of the conviction, any information respecting the activities of the person that the court considers appropriate in the circumstances;
(g) directing the person to publish, in any manner the court considers appropriate, the facts relating to the commission of the offence;
(h) requiring the person to comply with any other conditions that the court considers appropriate for securing the person's good conduct and for preventing the person from repeating the offence or committing other offences under this Act.
(2) An application for variation of an order under subsection (1) may be made to the court that made the order by
(a) the Attorney General, or
(b) the person against whom the order was made.
(3) Before hearing an application under subsection (2), the court may order the applicant to give notice of the application in accordance with the directions of the court.
(4) On an application under subsection (2), if the court considers variation appropriate because of a change in the circumstances, the court may make an order doing one or more of the following:
(a) changing the original order or any conditions specified in it;
(b) relieving the person against whom the order was made absolutely or partially from compliance with all or part of the original order;
(c) reducing the period for which the original order is to remain in effect;
(d) extending the period for which the original order is to remain in effect, subject to the limit that this extension must not be longer than one year.
(5) If an application under subsection (2) has been heard by a court, no other application may be made in respect of the order under subsection (1) except with leave of the court.
(6) If a person fails to comply with an order referred to in subsection (1) (g) directing the person to publish the facts relating to the commission of an offence, the minister may publish those facts and recover the costs of publication from the person.
(7) If
(a) an order under this section directs a person to pay an amount of money as compensation or for any other purpose, or
(b) the minister incurs publication costs under subsection (6),
the amount and any interest payable on that amount constitute a debt due to the government and may be recovered as such in any court of competent jurisdiction.
105 (1) If a person has been convicted of an offence under this Act, or under any regulation or bylaw enacted or in force under this Act, and the offence is in the nature of an omission or neglect, or is in respect of the existence of a nuisance, health hazard or unsanitary condition which it is the person's duty to remove, or is in respect of the erection or construction of anything contrary to the provisions of this Act, or of any regulation or bylaw enacted or enforced under this Act, then, if the proper authority in that behalf gives reasonable notice to the person to make good the omission or neglect, or to remove the nuisance, health hazard or unsanitary condition, or to remove the thing which has been erected or constructed contrary to this Act, or to the regulation or bylaw, and default is made with respect to the notice, the person offending may be convicted for the default, and is liable to the same punishment as was, or might have been, imposed for the original offence, and so on from time to time, as often as after another conviction a new notice is given and the default continues.
(2) In the case of a third or subsequent conviction as set out in subsection (1), it is not necessary in the information or other proceedings to make reference to any conviction except the first, or to any notice except that in respect of which the proceedings are being taken.
106 If a contravention of this Act or of a regulation or order under this Act should be abated, restrained, enjoined or prevented in the interest of the public health, the Supreme Court may grant injunctive relief on application by the minister or a local board, union board, metropolitan board of health, regional board referred to in section 27, health officer, medical health officer or public health inspector.
107 In any prosecution for any violation of sections 80 and 83, the burden of proof that the notice required to be given by those sections was given lies on the defence, and it is not necessary to a conviction for the prosecution to prove the nondelivery of the notice to all the persons to whom the notice could have been given.
108 Every penalty imposed by or under this Act may be recovered by proceedings under the Offence Act.
109 (1) If any person, from poverty or other sufficient cause, is unable to comply with this Act, or part of it, the person must give notice of his or her inability to the medical health officer or to the local board.
(2) If the local board, on examination, is satisfied of the sufficiency of the cause of the inability, the secretary or a member of the board must give his or her certificate to that effect.
(3) A certificate given under subsection (2) is a bar to all proceedings against the person for a period of 6 months.
110 (1) A person who considers himself or herself aggrieved or injured by the violation by any other person of any provision of this Act, or any rules or regulations lawfully made under it, may lay an information and prosecute in respect of the violation.
(2) In a prosecution under subsection (1), it is not necessary to a conviction that the person prosecuting has been actually aggrieved or injured.
111 If an act or omission is a violation of an express provision of this Act, or of any rule or regulation authorized under it, and is also a violation of a bylaw of a municipality in respect of a matter over which the council of the municipality has jurisdiction, a conviction may be had under either this Act or the bylaw, but a second conviction must not be made for the same act or omission.
112 An order or other proceeding, matter or thing done or transacted in or relating to the execution of this Act, or of any rule or regulation authorized under it, must not be vacated, quashed or set aside for want of form, or be removed or removable by a proceeding in the nature of certiorari or other writ or process into the Supreme Court.
113 (1) A person who establishes, without the consent of the local board, a noxious or offensive trade, business or factory, or one that may become offensive, is liable to a penalty of $250 for that establishment and to a penalty not exceeding $10 for every day on which, after a written notice from the local board to desist, the offence is continued, whether or not there has been any conviction in respect of that establishment.
(2) Without restricting subsection (1), offensive trades include blood boiling, bone boiling, refining of coal oil, extracting oil from fish, storing hides, soap boiling, tallow melting, tripe boiling, slaughtering animals and the manufacture of gas, alkali, sulphuric acid, chemical manure, nitric acid, sulphate and muriate of ammonia, chlorine or bleaching powder.
114 (1) Unless this Act or the regulations otherwise provide, an order, notice or other document is sufficiently served on a person if
(a) it is served personally on the person,
(b) it is sent by registered mail to the person at the person's actual or last known address, or
(c) subject to subsection (2), it is published in a newspaper.
(2) If a person serving an order, notice or other document is unable to locate the person to be served and unable to determine the person's actual or last known address after having taken reasonable steps for the purpose, the order, notice or other document may be served by publishing it in 2 issues, at least one week apart, of a newspaper having general circulation in the place where the person to be served
(a) had his or her last known address according to the records or other information available to the person serving the order, notice or other document, or
(b) has property if the order, notice or other document relates to the property of that person or is given in proceedings that relate to his or her property.
115 The Health Care (Consent) and Care Facility (Admission) Act does not affect anything in section 8, 11, 13, 16, 64 or 65 of this Act or in a regulation made under this Act.
Copyright (c) 2001: Queen's Printer, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada