Government suggests adding advocates to help victims navigate ICBC's no-fault insurance

ICBC’s no-fault insurance could be improved for crash victims by providing them help to navigate the claims process, B.C.’s Attorney General’s Ministry has recommended to a legislative committee.

And the committee should draw on experiences of victims of mass casualty car crashes, such as those injured in the deadly attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival attack in 2025, when it recommends any changes to ICBC’s system of providing benefits, it said.

The special committee was formed to determine how no-fault insurance has been operating since it was brought in by the NDP government in 2021.

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It meant victims could no longer sue the at-fault driver for damages to cover medical and other recovery care, or pain and suffering. Instead, ICBC provides medical treatment payments and income replacement directly to victims.

That left the injured without a lawyer or other advocate who knew how to pursue benefits, leaving many with a lack of understanding of how to navigate the system.

Three areas — benefits, oversight and fairness, and navigation and claimant support — were identified as “opportunities for further work,” according to the written brief submitted to the committee by assistant deputy minister Paul Craven of the Attorney General’s Ministry.

Craven was to have presented his recommendations in person to the committee on Thursday, but the election call disbanded all legislative committees until after a new government is elected.

The committee had received 175 submissions, 30 from associations representing medical practitioners and other interested groups, and 144 from individuals, many of whom had been injured in crashes.

Craven, in his brief, said the ministry’s recommendations are based on the submissions, including one from John Berfelo, 54, of Abbotsford, who suffered a spinal injury in a 2022 crash, but had his case closed by an ICBC adjuster with what he says was inadequate compensation.