Lawyers win big in Chilliwack cat fight: While we all love a good David vs. Goliath battle, Goliath usually wins

Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Board steps up fight with lawyers, a consultant, and orders dissenting members to BC Supreme Court or else pay costs

Whatever happened to the big cat fight story?  

It’s been two weeks since long-time Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society members and volunteers seemingly succeeded in scuttling a hostile takeover of the beloved local charity, pushing back against the bullying and intimidation of new board members looking to corporatize the organization with dubious outside help.

I say “seemingly” because that success was my naive assessment as some members and volunteers patted one another on the back when the interloping CEO from the Regional Animal Protection Society (RAPS) and his board-appointed minions resigned and scurried back to Richmond.

“David knocked down Goliath with just a handful of stones,” a long-time volunteer told me via email right before the RAPS folks left. 

“We are still gathering our stones.”

People close to the situation were less positive than I, telling me that not only was the battle not yet won, it was already lost even with that development. Some told me that once Eyal Lichtmann from RAPS resigned as a consultant, taking with him his three Richmond RAPS people who were appointed to the Haven Board, his claws were still in and he wasn’t done with his goal to get the Haven’s land.

Psshaw I said. He’s gone. He emailed me personally using polite language, even apologizing for getting personal with me in a post on the Haven’s website. I mean, despite the apology, the Haven kept his ad hominem attack on its website. As of today, March 19, it’s still up there.

Again, naive me thought the water bowl was half full. I assumed with the RAPS folks gone, the current board members who invited the fox into the cathouse would recognize the mistakes they made, reconcile with the membership, and move on. Or, they would be force to hold the Emergency General Meeting (EGM) they should hold next Monday (March 23) following the proper protocol demanded by Haven members, they would be voted out, and the beloved charity could return to simply doing what it was create to do: Take care of cats.

You see, of the 50-or-so members of the Society, 37 of them signed the requisition to hold the EGM with the special resolutions to oust the board and install a new one. That requisition only needed 10 per cent of members to hold an EGM. They got 75 per cent.

Over the last week, however, it has gotten more complicated and much, much worse.

While the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Board’s public face appears to focus on helping the cats, behind the scenes it’s getting more Machiavellian than ever.

“So much Happy NEWS!” starts a March 15 post on the Haven’s Facebook page. “Handsome Braap found his furr-ever family yesterday. Sometimes the wait is just for the perfect match, and when he met them, he knew.”

Cute.

“Attention Humans…Our Treat Situation has great need,” from March 16. 

Aww, donate folks!

Meanwhile, dig down into the kitty litter and you’ll see while they ask for kitten snack donations, the Board is spending tens of thousands of dollars hiring lawyers and a consultant to, um … well, consult? I’ll come back to that.

Curious legal moves killing the cat haven

“I hope this e-mail finds you well. I am legal counsel for the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society.”

So began an email I received on Feb. 27, 2026, the same day I posted my story on this situation.

This was an email that conservatively would have cost the Society, I don’t know, $1,000 or so? Lawyers don’t put a single pointed word down on paper for less than that.

“I would ask that you please confirm:

“1. The name of the individual who provided you with a copy of the letter of February 3, 2026.

“2. The circumstances under which you were provided with a copy of the letter of February 3, 2026; and

“3. The source of the information in the article.”

I barely shared any of the nasty four-page letter in question, a letter riddled with threats to a hardworking woman on medical leave because of the terrible working conditions the new Board created. 

The very expensive email sent to me was paid for out of the coffers of the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven. I reiterate that because it was the equivalent of flushing money down the toilet. It doesn’t take a lawyer or journalist or even watching All the President’s Men to know that no reporter would provide the name they asked for, explain the circumstances that I saw the letter, or name the source.

Mr. Dunning absolutely knows this as do members of the Board who paid for this expensive bluff.

But that email to me is the very tip of the costly iceberg. I have no idea how many people have been threatened or bullied with legal letters, but I’m starting to understand why those involved who resigned in late 2025 used terms such as “intimidation” and “bullying.” 

This appears to be the modus operandi of the new director and board president. The only question I have is whether the RAPS CEO really did leave town. I’m told by people in Richmond that this is his modus operandi to a tee. Are his claws still in Chilliwack or did the Board just adopt his moves?

Again, was it naive of me to think this fight could be won?

“The people who could have kept us informed were all muzzled by NDAs and management drones,” so continued the email from the long-time volunteer I shared on March 4. “Every single voice raised in support reminds us that we are not fighting this travesty on our own.”

Beyond the legal expenses the Society board is shelling out – five-figure territory as anyone who has ever dealt with legal matters knows – they hired consultant and former MLA Kelli Paddon.

This was announced in a news release Paddon sent out from her business, Equiiti Strategic.

I wondered briefly if this would be something like a mediator to help the board understand why the vast majority of Society members and volunteers want them gone, why they should hold this EGM and wipe the slate clean. 

How naive of me.

“As outlined in the release, Equiiti Strategic has been retained to support staff, volunteers, community members, and the board through a time-limited process focused on information gathering, transparency, and consultation,” Paddon wrote in the March 12 email accompanying the release. “The work will help identify needs and opportunities, with recommendations provided to the Board and next steps co-created with community stakeholders.”

The headline of the release says Paddon was hired by the Society to “Support Transition Process.”

What does all that mean? Read it to yourself a few times and if you figure it out, let me in on it. 

(This, I should point out, is by no means to disrespect Paddon who was a great MLA and I’m sure does good consultancy work. It’s certainly not as useless as a lawyer hired to send a pissing-in-the-wind email to me. This is her doing what she does and what she was hired to do. Good for her.)

However, the release says the Board is committed to a “process in transparency, collaboration, and meaningful consultation as it considers next steps.”

Then there is a quote.

“Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society has always been rooted in community care,” said a representative of the Board [emphasis mine]. “Bringing in independent governance and leadership support will help us move forward with openness, accountability, and a commitment to listening.”

To get a sense of just how not transparent this board is and why Society members want them gone, they hire a consultant, write a news release, include a quote, and they can’t even find someone to attribute that quote to? 

I thought the RAPS CEO was gone… so who is the “independent governance and leadership support” being brought in?

Three days after that release, on March 15, Paddon’s consultation program was done. Three days? Huh. She posted on her Equiiti Facebook page that she listened to people who care deeply about the Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven Society, and she has submitted “the listening summary” and recommendations to the Board.

So who did she speak to? By way of transparency, I suspect most of the 50-or-so members looking to stop this board from what it is doing are curious.

“When referring to a ‘cross-section’ of people, could you clarify how participants were selected and how many were involved?” asked Brittany Gidon following up on a lengthier and pointed series of questions of Paddon. “Understanding the selection process and general scale of participation would help members assess how representative the themes may be.”

Another member responded to Gidon.

“To answer one of your questions, I have been a haven member for 22 years and former foster,” Liz Postnikoff said. “I was not asked to provide input during this consultation.”

"Chilliwack Animal Safe Haven, are we going to see transparency as a membership on this, unredacted?” Logan Bryan asked.

Most of the members of the Society involved prior to the now infamous Feb. 17 meeting where the RAPS CEO attended with his followers were not consulted.

Since then, Lichtmann’s Richmond-based RAPS started a campaign to flood the Haven with new memberships to help scuttle the local members’ desire to oust the board. 

And it worked. 

In an affidavit as part of a court filing from Vancouver law firm Farris LLP on behalf of the Haven, Board president Katherine Lemond said membership is now up to 600. That’s up from fewer than 50 since Feb. 17 when a meet-and-greet was held that included the RAPS people.

That court filing, which I have not seen, I'm told orders the original requisitioners to attend a BC Supreme Court hearing, I think Thursday or Friday (March 20). The current Board members that Society members want ousted say the EGM needs to be cancelled because some of those named are no longer on the Board, and at least one of those listed to form the new Board has withdrawn her name, rendering the meeting moot. I’ve heard there was some discussion about holding the meeting anyway, trying to oust the board, defying the Board’s demands.

Later in the same day the requisitioners received the summons, however, they received another notice from Farris LLP that said if they cancel the EGM, the Board won’t go after the Haven volunteers for court costs. 

Gee, thanks.

The legal document orders one prominent individual to re-notify those originally told about the EGM to tell them it is adjourned. It said if the members can create a new requisition with specific language for resolutions, the Board will call the EGM as they are required to. However, many of the 37 out of 50 are likely spooked by legal threats. Most are just interested in cats not fighting legal battles. And now that there are 600 members, whoever they are, a new requisition would need at least 60 names for an EGM, which won’t be easy since the campaign for new members by RAPS was specifically intended to keep the new Board in place.

One hurdle after another.

Elephants, horses, dogs, cats

Now that the Board has Paddon’s recommendations, the transparency gets ever more opaque as they can deflect to a consultant’s report and hide behind lawyers.

In the post on Equiiti’s page about the consultation, Society member Brittany Gidon deftly pointed out the elephant in the cat room.

“Many members are also concerned about how donated funds are being used during this conflict. There have already been legal expenses related to disputes with members, and now funds have been used for this consultation.”

While the Haven’s Facebook page includes cute images of Braap and Bubbles and calls for kitty treats, they are spending tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers and consultants to fight their own membership. I wonder how much cat food could have been purchased with the money paid to send me an email by a lawyer that was objectively a waste of time, let alone to pay for the Vancouver lawyer issuing summons to requisitioners and hiring a consultant?

Answer: A lot.

“Those of us who love the Haven and all it represents are desperate to see this onslaught brought to an end,” my articulate email writer said on March 4.

“We are watching the systematic clearing out and trying to prevent as much neglect and mistreatment of our cats as we can, but we are losing ground every day. Any effort to ask uncomfortable questions or speak out against this slow rolling destruction is met with more gaslighting, threats, and for the more recalcitrant, ordered off the property and warned against returning.”

In that March 4 missive, while my anonymous cat grandma seemed negative, saying they were losing ground, she came back to optimism at the end.

“The more people are made aware of what is happening, the better our chances of stopping it. I don't think I am being overly melodramatic by saying that we are about to engage in the fight for the life of the Safe Haven. I also don't believe that we have yet reached ‘too late.’”

That, however, was before the lawyers, before the consultant, before people realized that those running the Board will spend it all to keep control. 

And having been told by multiple people in Richmond that the RAPS CEO’s long-term goal, at least several years ago, was to build shelters across the Lower Mainland, maybe try to take over the BC SPCA’s contract itself one day, this fight seems all but lost.

I’m told there are at least a couple of people on this current Haven Board who truly are just there for the kitties. So they will feel duped if there is truth to the other rumour that the true RAPS goal in taking over the Haven was to get access to the $2.5-million property on Chilliwack Central Road to build a dog shelter. Lichtmann is a dog lover after all. The new executive director of the Haven breeds cocker spaniels. Of course, one can love dogs and cats.

One rumour after another does not lead to a logically sound conclusion, but with so much secrecy and acrimony, there are signs these original members are on the losing side of this cat fight.

To mix animal metaphors one last time, I don’t have a horse in this race and really, I don’t really know anything about anything here, but it looks like it might be too late after all.

I was naive before. Hopefully I'm just wrong now.

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Paul J. Henderson
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