Employed by the North Vancouver School District No. 44 first as a teacher on call, then full time beginning in September 1993.

August  1998 – May 2001

I was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in August 1998 and underwent a series of aggressive treatments including a lumpectomy, then a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and eventually reconstructive surgeries.  I first used up my sick days, then went on Short Term Disability and eventually Long Term Disability (LTD).  I attempted to return to work and worked from September 1999 to May 2001 with accommodations to my employment and a brief return to LTD in February 2000 for the first of several reconstructive surgeries.

June 2000 – June 2005

Although I was scheduled to be on LTD in June of 2000 for the second reconstructive surgery, I left work a week early due to fatigue.  I did not recover my energy and continued to feel unable to work after the surgery and continued on LTD for the school year beginning September 2000.  I had another surgery in November 2000 which resulted in a serious infection in the surgical site which caused the plastic surgeon in January 2001 to order that I not return to work for a further six months.  I have since been diagnosed with chronic fatigue by Dr. Bruce Carruthers (now retired), a chronic fatigue specialist, as a result of my cancer treatments.  I have also been under the care of a psychiatrist since January 2002.

Throughout my time on Long Term Disability I complied with all the requests of Great West Life in regard to my claim including filling out forms, submissions from my doctor(s) and submitting to independent medical examinations by doctors chosen by Great West Life.

June 30, 2005

Great-West Life stopped my payments as of this date pending further investigation via Independent Medical Examinations which would not occur until September/October, 2005.

August 15, 2005

I filled out an Activity Report for GWL filling in the form with the facts as they were at that time.

Feeling increased pressure from Great-West Life/BCTF  in their attempts to cut off my disability my husband and I had begun to investigate the possibility of purchasing a Curves franchise.  We were hoping to generate an income to replace my disability payments and were willing to undertake the personal risk of mortgaging our home to do this. We would not acquire the business until October 30, 2005 and, in fact, the sale became contentious and there was concern about our ability to close it.

October 30, 2005

On this date, we took possession of Curves.  The Curves franchise was purchased with a full staff including a manager who oversaw the day to day operation of the business. The previous owners lived in another city so were not highly present in the day to day operations.   I was doing the confidential banking, including electronic file transfer payments and bill payments.  This work was done mainly on the computer at home.  Other banking – depositing of payments, etc. – was done by the manager.  I was not working shifts at Curves but did do my workouts (approximately 30 minutes) there 3 times per week.

January 2006

I felt it necessary to let the manager go and replaced her with a current employee who preferred to be the “Assistant” Manager although she would take on the day to day operations.  She did not want to be responsible for any staff issues which might arise.  I realized that I would need to notify GWL that I was taking a more active role and did so on January 12, 2006 .

January 16 or 17, 2006 

Unknown to me (until Examinations for Discovery in June, 2008), a confidential informant had called the Long Term Plan Administrator and said some things which BCTF has refused to divulge even to this day.  Although an affidavit was submitted by this LTD Administrator stating that the informant only told them three things – that I was on Long Term Disability, that I had purchased a Curves franchise, and that I was teaching a weight loss class – testimony at the trial contradicts this.  In testimony at trial, the LTD Administrator states that they had a long conversation with the informant and that the informant told them “many things”.  The information from this informant was sufficient to cause BCTF to place me under video surveillance for 11 days in February 2006.  I had no idea of this surveillance until discovery took place in preparation for the trial in June 2008.

February 21, 2006

A correspondence ensued between me, GWL and BCTF ending with my letter of February 21, 2006 which fully explains our situation.

Here is the full content of that letter:

I am writing this letter in answer to your request for more specific details re my tasks as Management Consultant. 

My husband and I remortgaged our house in order to purchase the Curves West Vancouver last fall.  We assumed ownership on October 29, 2005.  Our intent is to build the business to produce sufficient income so that I will not have to be dependent on long term disability.  The business was being run by a manager and full staff.

My role until early January was mainly to see how things were being run and to give some direction or advice where needed as well as the necessary banking. 

My role as Management Consultant, effective January 1, 2006, is mainly in an advisory capacity with the exception of some of the high security banking, such as Electronic Transfers of membership dues, which is done by computer from my home with input from the Assistant Manager who tracks necessary changes, new memberships, etc.  I also look after paying the bills. Due to my husband being fully employed and my chronic fatigue, most of the work is done by employees or outside help, ie. bookkeeper and accountant, Ceridian Payroll service, etc.  I also teach a Curves 6 Week Weight Loss Solution on Monday nights from 7:30 p.m. to anywhere from 8:15 – 8:45 p.m. until March 20.

I have estimated my time spent on Curves to be about 8 hours per week.  It is difficult to assess exactly as it may be a quick phone call here or there.  This job is perfectly suited to me because much of it can be done from home and the hours are almost completely flexible.

We are currently working with our accountant and our bookkeeper to determine what if any profit we made to December 31, 2005.  I understand that my portion of any profit must be reported to you.

I hope this is the information you need.  Please contact me if you need further information.  I have enclosed a copy of my latest paycheque.

March 26, 2006

Subsequent to the video surveillance and the correspondence (attached 5) which took place January – February, 2006, BCTF reinstated my claim for disability to August 31, 2006  on March 26, 2006 (letters from GWL-attached 6 and BCTF – attached 7). This decision was made with complete knowledge of my involvement with Curves with no further inquiry made by either GWL or BCTF after my letter of February 26, 2006.

June 2006

My general practitioner wrote a letter to GWL in response their letter of March 26, 2006 indicating her disagreement with their assessment and stating that I was still not able to increase my work hours from 8  hours per week and that I was finding even what I was doing with Curves to be too much for me.  In fact, my husband had retired as of April 2006 and had assumed most of the duties that I had previously been doing.

October 4, 2006

An Independent Medical Examination was arranged by Great-West Life and carried out by Dr. Stewart-Patterson and Chris Nguyen (Kinesiologist). Dr. Stewart-Patterson’s initial report supported my continuation on Long Term Disability.  BCTF had conducted further video surveillance of me October 1 – 7, 2006.  This was presented to Dr. Stewart-Patterson who then changed his opinion from his original assessment, finding me no longer eligible for disability.  It should be noted here that, at trial, when Dr. Stewart-Patterson was asked what was on the video that I had not told him about, he was unable to give any example of my lying to him about any activity.

December 14, 2006

I received the letter dated December 14, 2006 denying my appeal of my claim approximately one week before Christmas.  The timing of the letter made it impractical, if not impossible, to do anything about it until after the holidays.  I called my local union, the North Vancouver Teachers’ Association (NVTA), in early January with an inquiry for information.  The president of the NVTA invited me to come and see her and begin to investigate what my next action should be.  When she was forced to go on Medical Leave, I was then conferring with the person who took her place.  This person investigated my next steps and was guiding me in applying to the BCTF for a Medical Review.

April 2, 2007

My request for a Medical Review as proscribed by the Rules and Regulations of the Salary Indemnity Plan was denied in a letter from the LTD Administrator.  The letter also states that the matter has been turned over to their legal counsel.  I was completely baffled as to why this matter had been referred to the BCTF lawyers.

April 24, 2007

I received an email from the NVTA in response to my enquiry as to the meaning of BCTF’s letter of April 2/07.  The email was the first information I had that I was being charged with fraud.  It explains that if they are successful in their legal action there would be no need for a Medical Review.  If they are not successful, I would be reinstated.  The email advises me to contact my lawyer.

April 25 or 26, 2007

I received a long letter from BCTF’s lawyers dated April 23, 2007 making several allegations of fraud, all of which I deny (attached 14).  ).  None of these allegations are true and BCTF has no evidence to support these allegations. In fact, it contained at least one grossly inaccurate statement of fact about which BCTF should have had knowledge.  The allegation was that I advised them that I had only received one pay cheque when I had sent my paycheque stubs to GWL at the end of each month beginning January 2006.  I thought it must be a clerical error??  This allegation was proven to be wrong during the legal proceedings.  This letter completely ignores the fact stated above that BCTF reinstated my claim for disability to August 31, 2006  on March 26, 2006 with full knowledge of my activities in general and related to Curves and had made no further inquiries of me.

April-May 2009

Trial held in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.  Final arguments were heard June 10 – 12, 2009.

July 5, 2010 – Reasons for Judgment

A brief summary of the judgment (the first judgment handed down on July 5, 2010 is 87 pages long and is available online) is found in Madam Justice Wendy Baker’s Reasons for Judgment for the Hearing for Costs on August 17, 2011:

-page 7[29] “I have concluded that each party shall bear its or her own costs of this litigation.  There has been divided success.  The defendant was successful in defending against the plaintiff’s claim for damages.  The plaintiff was successful in defending against the defendant’s claim for a declaration of entitlement, and for damages…

Both parties had their primary claims dismissed.”