The trial of a former Vancouver school trustee charged with obtaining for consideration the sexual services of a person under the age of 18 resumed in Vancouver provincial court Oct. 17.
Former Vision Vancouver trustee Kenneth Joseph Clement is one of seven men charged in an underage sex sting about people allegedly targeting underage girls between the ages of 15 and 17.
The trial is currently in a voire dire — a trial within a trial. They are held to determine the admissibility of evidence. As the information presented before Judge David St. Pierre has not yet been admitted as evidence, it is covered by a publication ban.
Clement’s lawyer Sarah Rauch appeared before Justice of the Peace Matthew Fong May 26 and expressed concerns about the length of time the case was taking.
There have been some two-dozen appearances for the case with the charges now 1,414 days old, according to the court docket.
The first appearance, court records show, was July 24, 2020.
It was initially set for trial April 19, 2021, then Sept. 13 of the same year. Since then, there have been multiple continuations of appearances.
Vancouver Police Department deputy chief constable Laurence Rankin said at the time of the arrest in 2019 that an investigation began in June 2018 and ended that November.
According to court records, the offence related to Clement took place on June 27, 2018.
Clement was announced as a Vision candidate on June 20 of that year and dropped out of the race the following week.
At the time, Vision spokesperson Michael Haack said Clement was not running in the upcoming election race due to health reasons.
Clement was the first municipal official of First Nations descent in Vancouver’s history when elected to the school board in 2008.
