Tennis players not 'oppressed' when community centre allowed pickleball: B.C. judge
A group of Gulf Island tennis players who were forced to share the local courts with pickleballers were not "oppressed," a B.C. judge found while refusing to grant them exclusive use of the space.
The battle over the tennis courts began two years ago, as the sport of pickleball was surging in popularity – including on Mayne Island, with its small community of around 1,100 residents.
The dispute eventually landed in B.C. Supreme Court, with tennis players hoping to assert authority over the courts at the Mayne Island Community Centre – but ultimately missing their shot.
In a decision posted online this week, Judge Bill Basran found the matter "does not warrant judicial intervention."
The court heard pickleball players asked permission to use the community centre's courts in fall 2021, and were initially rejected – until several pickleball-supporting members were elected to the board of the Mayne Island Community Centre Society (MICCS) later that year.
The MICCS subsequently decided to allow equal time for both sports, with pickleball players and tennis players each getting 21 hours per week on the two courts.
"This may have been disappointing for members of the tennis community but it was presumably an expression of the democratic will of the voting members of the MICCS," Basran wrote in his June 30 decision.
The tennis players argued the community centre's edict was "unfair and unlawful," however, claiming the Mayne Island Tennis Association (MITA) had been promised control and ownership of the courts by way of an informal spoken agreement that had been in place for over a decade.
Basran acknowledged the tennis group played a key role in fundraising for the courts and getting them built, but didn't buy that the community centre ever intended to fully cede authority to the MITA.
The MITA is a "non-legal entity that does not have the capacity to own anything, let alone land," the judge wrote.
"Furthermore, the alleged transfer of the tennis courts to MITA probably would have violated the terms of MICCS’ bylaws and potentially jeopardized its status as a non-profit society," Basran added. "This is because one of MICCS’ purposes is to promote and foster community involvement in the process of developing the community centre for the benefit of the public. The public served by MICCS includes people who play pickleball."
Basran also dismissed the suggestion that tennis players had been oppressed by the board, or that any of the new members had a conflict of interest just because they had expressed an interest in pickleball.
"They were in no more a conflict of interest than previous board members who preferred tennis, some of whom were on the so-called 'executive' of MITA," he wrote.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Feds hope to table foreign interference legislation next week: LeBlanc
Democratic Institutions Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to table legislation this week to help the federal government address foreign interference, but he wouldn't say whether the proposal will include a foreign agent registry.