November 25, 2024 - Minutes (Special)

Place:

Council Chambers
Richmond City Hall

Present:

Mayor Malcolm D. Brodie
Councillor Chak Au
Councillor Carol Day (by teleconference)
Councillor Laura Gillanders
Councillor Kash Heed
Councillor Andy Hobbs (by teleconference)
Councillor Alexa Loo
Councillor Bill McNulty
Councillor Michael Wolfe

Corporate Officer – Claudia Jesson

Call to Order:

Mayor Brodie called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m.

RES NO.

ITEM

SP24/7-1

It was moved and seconded

That Councillor Day and Councillor Hobbs be permitted to join the meeting electronically.

CARRIED

LAW AND COMMUNITY SAFETY DIVISION

1.

Cancellation of Business Licence Issued to Nagoya Trading Ltd. (doing business as Tokyo Beauty)

(File Ref. No.: 12-8275-01) (REDMS No. 7688429)

In accordance with Section 100 of the Community Charter, Cllr. Au declared to be in a conflict of interest due to being a consultant to Remedios and Company, and Cllr. Au left the meeting – 4:02 p.m.

Mayor Brodie noted the attendance of Lawrence Hung, Barrister and Solicitor, Remedios & Company, together with Articled Students Matthew Remedios and Hanyuan Wu, and acknowledged receipt of the copy of their oral submission (attached to and forming part of these minutes as Schedule 1).

Mark Corrado, Director, Community Bylaws & Licencing, provided a review of the report and outlined the grounds to the bylaw investigation and steps taken by the City leading to the recommendation to cancel the Business License for Nagoya Trading Ltd. (doing business as Tokyo Beauty), located at 3660 - 4151 Hazelbridge Way (the “Hazelbridge Location”).  Mr. Corrado advised that Nagoya Trading Ltd. operates other Tokyo Beauty locations in Richmond and that the staff recommendations presented in the report pertain specifically to the Hazelbridge Way location. The following was noted:

§   

Business Licence Bylaw No. 7360 is the most relevant Bylaw of the proceedings;

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Major cases in which the Director, Community Bylaws & Licencing, takes conduct of the investigation are infrequent and generally involve serious risk to the public, physical or reputational risk to staff, interoperability between different law enforcement agencies and government, as well as a reasonable possibility the outcome of the investigation will result in a suspension and cancellation hearing, of which all factor in the proceedings; and

§   

Enforcement action can escalate from warnings, where there is no prior history of bylaw violations, through to Business Licence Cancellation Council Hearings, where there is a history of repeated major violations and/or major risk to the health of the community.

The Notice and Agenda Special Council Meeting package was referenced and marked as Exhibit 1, and henceforth referred to as the Special Council Package.

Mr. Corrado spoke to his report titled “Cancellation of Business License Issued to Nagoya Trading Ltd. (doing business as Tokyo Beauty)”, dated October 11, 2024, included in the Special Council Package, and marked as Exhibit A, noting the report and the three recommendations that pertain specifically to the licence and the operation of the business by Nagoya Trading Ltd., carrying on business as Tokyo Beauty, at the Hazelbridge Location; important to note as Nagoya Trading Ltd. carries on business at two other locations in Richmond.

Mr. Corrado advised that the City became aware of multiple contraventions of the Food and Drug Act and Food and Drug Regulations of Canada by Nagoya Trading Ltd., at the 8191 Westminster Highway location (the “Westminster Location”) through two newspaper articles released on September 11, 2023 from the Vancouver Sun and the Richmond News, where it was reported that Health Canada conducted a raid on the Westminster Highway location of Tokyo Beauty and seized unauthorized products, including a product containing a banned opioid.
 

Mr. Corrado further noted that Business License staff initiated an investigation and contacted Health Canada for records of violations in the Westminster Location. As such, Business License staff were advised of two preceding health advisories, of which a health advisory noted the sale of nine unauthorized health products that were for sale at the Westminster Location. One product in particular, “Bilbao Neng Gold A” or “Pabron Gold A Granules Cold Medication”, was described as being dangerous, containing an opioid referred to as dihydrocodeine phosphate. This drug presents a serious health risk to youth and adults for addiction and overdose and any controlled substances under the Control and Drugs Substances Act are not to be sold over the counter.

Mr. Corrado advised of other products found in the Health Canada advisories, including “Santen Beauteye Contact”, which contains a substance called neostigmine methylsulfate and “Kobayashi Aibon/Eyebon Eyewash”, which contains aminocaproic acid. These products were previously seized by Health Canada, however stores were then later re-stocked with the same products, demonstrating a pattern of a disregard of the Food and Drugs Act and the Food and Drug Regulations.

Mr. Corrado then spoke on the submission of a Business Licence change application for all three Tokyo Beauty locations, noting that an outstanding sign and plumbing inspection, together with an ongoing investigation, resulted in the Westminster Location’s licence change application being delayed longer then the other two locations. In November 2023, staff recommended suspending the business license of the Westminster Location. The suspension hearing was held on November 14, 2023, at which time Charlene Zhu, representing Nagoya Trading Ltd., spoke as a delegate stating that corrective actions had been taken following Health Canada’s Third Health Advisory, but didn’t acknowledge repeated offenses across multiple health advisories. The suspension hearing resulted in the Business License for the Westminster Location being suspended for 90 days.

A timeline of events since the 90-day suspension was provided, noting that less than four months later, on March 8, 2024, Health Canada issued their Fourth Health Advisory, for the resurfacing of aminocaproic acid found in two products being sold at the Hazelbridge Location, Santen Sante Beauteye Moon Care and Hadalabo Pearl Barley Face Wash. These were the same products noted in the Second Health Advisory and were seized by Health Canada at the Westminster Location on March 31, 2021.

Mr. Corrado concluded his presentation by summarizing the outreach undertaken to obtain additional open-source information from the various health advisories regarding any ongoing investigations into Nagoya Trading, specific contraventions of the Food and Drugs Act, and the subsequent roles/mandates between respective law enforcement agencies.  Furthermore, it was confirmed that the City takes the lead in matters dealing with the potential suspension and or cancellation of the Business Licence.  Staff considered all four Health Advisories and the lack of corrective action by Nagoya Trading Ltd. when recommending a Business License cancellation.  Mr. Corrado noted the following key points in the staff recommendation to cancel the Business License: (i) the public safety is a priority and the sale of the products exposed the public to an unacceptable risk, (ii) the community must be assured that various levels of government are committed to ensure the products they purchase are legal and safe, (iii) customers should not be put at risk when purchasing a product that claims to treat one ailment but exposes them to the risk of a far greater one, and (iv) it is imperative that when serious violations occur and enforcement action is taken and that there is an understanding that there will be a cessation of these violations.

In response to queries from Council, Mr. Corrado noted (i) there were five advisories and four basic violations, one under the Food and Drugs Act and three under the Food and Drug Regulations, and there were multiple products listed in the advisories; some of the advisories list the products and health warnings that are there, others go into greater detail when they see a trend that appears to be happening, such as eye drops that can cause blindness or skin lightening products that can cause serious health side effects, (ii) under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, there were two instances were there was the same product seized that contained dihydrocodeine phosphate, most recently on February 27, 2024, which was highlighted in the Fourth Health Canada Advisory on March 8, 2024, and previously seized at the Westminster Location, September 2023, (iii) Mr. Zhou Zhu is noted as being the same owner/Director since 2017, and (iv) there are three Tokyo Beauty locations in Richmond and multiple locations across the lower mainland, there isn’t a particular main store.

Mr. Corrado confirmed the information in Exhibit 1 is accurate and truthful, and that his Affidavit is noted as Exhibit 2.

Legal Counsel for Nagoya Trading Ltd., Lawrence Hung, Barrister & Solicitor, Matthew Remedios, Articled Student and Hanyuan Wu, Articled Student, Remedios & Company (“Nagoya Trading Ltd. Counsel”), presented their oral submission of Nagoya Trading Ltd. (a copy of which is attached to and forming part of these minutes as Schedule 1).

The binder copied to Council in advance of the meeting, entitled “Submissions and Materials of Nagoya Trading Ltd. (Doing Business as Tokyo Beauty)”, was referenced and marked as Exhibit 3 (copy available in the City Clerk’s office) and henceforth referred to as the “Nagoya Trading Ltd. (dba Tokyo Beauty) Binder”.

In response to questions from Council, Nagoya Trading Ltd. Counsel noted (i) it is their position that there must be steps taken by the City to ensure non-compliance, prior to the cancellation of a business license, (ii) there is no longer a risk to public safety as Tokyo Beauty has taken significant steps to implement its policies in terms of its employee training policy, the penalty policy, the compliance handbook, the policy products manual and all of the training sessions it has taken, (iii) Tokyo Beauty operates three stores in Richmond, none of which are designated as the main store, (iv) products vary for each of the three Richmond stores, (v) each store has its own store manager, (vi) three violations of any store manager would result in termination of that store manager, (vii) the business is not dismissive of previous violation and are seeking to improve protocols and comply with all appropriate laws and any and all regulations, (viii) all store managers have access to the products imported by Nagoya Trading Ltd. as store inventory, and (ix) as of March 2024, all Tokyo Beauty locations have been compliant.

In response to further queries from Council, Mr. Corrado advised that additional time was required to investigate the violations and respond to the March 2024 health advisory. City staff worked with Health Canada to determine if there were any other on-going investigations and consider Health Canada’s process.

SP24/7-2

It was moved and seconded

(1)

That the business licence issued to Nagoya Trading Ltd. (doing business as Tokyo Beauty), in respect of its operations at 4151 Hazelbridge Way Unit 3660, Richmond, BC, be cancelled;

(2)

That Council adopt as its own the Reasons attached as APPENDIX “A” to the report titled “Cancellation of Business Licence Issued to Nagoya Trading Ltd. (doing business as Tokyo Beauty), dated October 11, 2024, from the Director, Community Bylaws & Licencing, as Council’s written reasons for the cancellation of the business licence contemplated by Recommendation 1 of this report; and

(3)

That Council resolve to issue supplemental written reasons at a later date to supplement its reasons for the cancellation of the business licence contemplated by Recommendation 1 of this report as a result of the affidavit evidence and/or the evidence in the form of oral testimony of the representative(s) of Health Canada that was presented at the hearing of this matter.

The question on the motion was not called as a brief discussion ensued with respect to the opioid/prescription drug crisis, the seriousness and potential harm to the general public, and the need for a deterrent to ensure all Richmond businesses are compliant at all times.

The question on the motion was then called and it was CARRIED.

ADJOURNMENT

SP24/7-3

It was moved and seconded

That the meeting adjourn (5:42 p.m.).

CARRIED

Certified a true and correct copy of the Minutes of the Special meeting of the Council of the City of Richmond held on Monday, November 25, 2024.

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Mayor (Malcolm D. Brodie)

Corporate Officer (Claudia Jesson)