The Court granted an order of mandamus and certiorari to the petitioner employee, finding that the respondent employer failed to comply with a direction of the Public Service Appeal Board concerning its competition process and that the respondent employer had no right to make appointments by lateral transfers in the absence of compliance with the direction of the Appeal Board

24. September 2005 0
Administrative law – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Procedural requirements – Remedies – Mandamus – Certiorari Gowman v. Land and Water British Columbia Inc., [2002] B.C.J. No. 2406, British Columbia Supreme Court, October 22, 2002, Owen-Flood J. The respondent posted a competition for seven “Land and Water Manager” positions. The petitioner applied to the ...

A tenant (“Sullivan”) was successful in appealing the dismissal of her petition for judicial review of an arbitration decision that dismissed her claim to set aside a notice to terminate her tenancy. The arbitrator had dismissed Sullivan’s claim for failing to apply within the time limit. The Court of Appeal held that it was unfair of the arbitrator not to canvass the question of an extension of time with the lay litigant.

23. August 2005 0
Administrative law – Landlord and tenant – Residential tenancy agreements – Termination – Arbitration – Limitations – Extension of time – Judicial review – Natural justice – Procedural requirements and fairness Sullivan v. Strata Plan BCS-251, [2005] B.C.J. No. 1350, British Columbia Court of Appeal, June 17, 2005, Ryan, Mackenzie and Low JJ.A. In the course of ...

A teacher (“Kempling”) appealed the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court dismissing his appeal from a decision of a Hearing Panel of the British Columbia College of Teachers (the “College”) finding him guilty of conduct unbecoming a member of the College, and suspending his teaching certificate for one month. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that the court below was not in error in upholding the decision of the Panel. The Court of Appeal held that it was not open for Kempling to raise section 2(a) of the Charter as he had failed to appear before the Panel at the first hearing and laid no evidentiary basis to assess any alleged infringement of his religious freedom.

23. August 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Teachers – Appeals – Evidence – Teachers – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Penalties – Charter of Rights – Freedom of expression – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter – Correctness Kempling v. British Columbia College ...

The decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal to dismiss a complaint was not patently unreasonable as the Tribunal found that there were insufficient facts alleged regarding any discrimination on the part of the government towards the Complainant to move the complaint out of the realm of conjecture

26. July 2005 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Judicial review – No reasonable cause of action – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness Shilander (Re), [2005] B.C.J. No. 1123, British Columbia Supreme Court, May 18, 2005, Gerow J. The Complainant filed a complaint with the B.C. Human ...

The West Kootenay Community EcoSociety (“EcoSociety”) successfully petitioned to set aside the decision of the Minister of Water, Land, and Air Protection to move the driveway of a small provincial park to a location 30 metres to the east

26. July 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Ministerial orders – Environmental issues – Parks – Judicial review application – Crown immunity West Kootenay Community EcoSociety v. British Columbia (Ministry of Water, Land, and Air Protection), [2005] B.C.J. No. 1224, British Columbia Supreme Court, May 30, 2005, Prowse J. Grohman Narrows Provincial Park is located near Nelson, ...

The family owners of a ranch (the “Chivers”) were unsuccessful in their appeal from certain aspects of a decision of the Expropriation Compensation Board (the “Board”) which had fixed compensation for the effect upon their ranch of the expropriation of a portion of that land for highway widening project

26. July 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Expropriation Compensation Board – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness simpliciter Chivers v. British Columbia, [2005] B.C.J. No. 1227, British Columbia Court of Appeal, June 3, 2005, Esson, Prowse and Lowry JJ.A. The Chivers property was bisected by a highway such that the northern ...

The Court allowed the appeal of a teacher who had been found guilty of professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a teacher by the Respondent College. The Court found that the College had erred in concluding that the Appellant’s mental condition was irrelevant to a determination of whether his conduct amounted to professional misconduct.

28. June 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Teachers – Teachers – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – What constitutes – Mental condition – Relevancy – Penalties – Public interest – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness simpliciter Stuart v. British Columbia College of Teachers, [2005] B.C.J. No. 989, British ...

The Court dismissed the Petitioner’s appeal of a decision of the Respondent College’s Registration Committee which had dismissed her appeal regarding the results of her written examination for qualification. The Court found that the Registration Committee had not violated the principles of natural justice in administering the written examination, the College had not acted on irrelevant considerations in setting the passing score for the written examination and the College had not violated the rules of natural justice in conducting the Petitioner’s internal appeal.

28. June 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners – Licence to practice – Examinations – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Natural justice – Legitimate expectations – Appeal process – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness simpliciter Eliott v. College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists ...

The Court quashed a bylaw adopted by the Regional District of Comox-Strathcona (the “Regional District”) where the Court found that the Regional District failed to comply with the requirements of the Local Government Act (the “Act”) as the views expressed by the Petitioner (“Pacific Playground”) were not reported by the delegated directors to the other directors prior to their vote to adopt the bylaw

28. June 2005 0
Administrative law – Municipalities – Planning and zoning – Change of by-laws – Validity – Public hearings – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Rules and by-laws – Procedural requirements and fairness – Jurisdiction Pacific Playground Holdings Ltd. v. Comox-Strathcona (Regional District), [2005] B.C.J. No. 941, British Columbia Supreme Court, April 27, 2005, Ehrcke J. ...

The Court of Appeal held that the proper representative of the Crown in proceedings under the Judicial Review Procedure Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 241, is the Attorney General (the “AG”), not Her Majesty the Queen in the Right of the Province of British Columbia (“HMTQ”). The Court further determined that the AG can appear in his own right to speak for the public interest and may advocate for the statutory decision maker if the latter has not engaged separate counsel. The AG may be liable in costs if the tribunal does not file an appearance and the AG argues the merits of the tribunal’s decision.

28. June 2005 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Judicial review – Ministerial powers – Crown representative – Attorney General – Costs liability for Lang v. British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles), [2005] B.C.J. No. 906, British Columbia Court of Appeal, April 25, 2005, Donald, Newbury and Low JJ.A. This appeal relates to four distinct cases in ...