The Crown prosecuted an individual officer and a corporation for violations of the Fire Protection and Prevention Act arising from fire code violations discovered at a resort property.
The corporation was charged with failing to comply with inspection orders, and the officer was charged with knowingly permitting the corporation to violate the fire code.
The court found that the inspection orders were defectively issued and served—directed to the individual rather than the corporation, and not properly served on the corporate entity.
Consequently, the corporation's charges were dismissed.
The officer's charges were also dismissed because the Crown failed to prove the requisite knowledge element beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court found the officer had demonstrated a cooperative approach to remedying the violations and had not acted with culpable knowledge or willful blindness.
