Gill was successful in having the Court of Appeal set aside the decision of the B.C. Securities Commission that the newly formed CDNX stock exchange had jurisdiction to discipline Gill for alleged breaches of the rules of the Vancouver Stock Exchange, a predecessor to the CDNX

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Securities Commission – Compliance with rules and by-laws – Jurisdiction – Stock brokers – Disciplinary proceedings – Governance – Restructuring of stock exchanges – Survival of contracts – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness Gill v. Canadian Venture Exchange Inc., [2003] B.C.J. No. 1767, British Columbia Court ...

A physician (“Dr. Cimolai”) successfully appealed the decision of a chambers judge dismissing his application for a judicial review of a decision of the Board of Directors of Children’s and Women’s Health Centre which had terminated his hospital privileges on the basis of the finding of harassment. The chambers judge had ruled that the doctor had available to him an “adequate alternative remedy” in the form of an appeal to the Hospital Appeal Board, and that for this reason he was not entitled to judicial review. The Court of Appeal disagreed with the findings of the chambers judge.

26. August 2003 0
Administrative law – Physicians and surgeons – Hospital privileges – Judicial review – Procedural fairness – Public body – Definition – Remedies – Certiorari Cimolai v. Children’s and Women’s Health Centre of British Columbia, [2003] B.C.J. No. 1313, British Columbia Court of Appeal, June 6, 2003, Southin, Newbury and Hall JJ.A. The Court of Appeal considered the question ...

The Board of School Trustees of School District No. 81 (the “School Board”) was successful in its appeal of an arbitration award in which the arbitrator found that the benefit plan of the School Board (the “Plan”) was discriminatory under section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the British Columbia Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 210 in restricting dual coverage where both spouses were teachers. The court found that the Plan was not discriminatory as there was no deprivation of a benefit.

26. August 2003 0
Administrative law – Teachers – Labour law – Arbitration – Benefit plans – Dual coverage – Judicial review – Human rights complaints – Charter of Rights – Discrimination British Columbia Public School Employers’ Assn. v. British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, [2003] B.C.J. No. 1272, British Columbia Court of Appeal, May 30, 2003, Huddart, Braidwood and Thackray JJ.A. The Fort Nelson ...

The Court of Appeal upheld the Chambers judge’s ruling that the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia (the “Commissioner”) erred in law by failing to find that the release by the Legal Services Society (the “Respondent”) to a local newspaper reporter (the “Appellant”) of the names of the top five “billers” for immigration and criminal matters would breach solicitor-client privilege. The standard of review applied was one of correctness.

22. July 2003 0
Administrative law – Freedom of information and protection of privacy – Disclosure – Public body – Legal Services Society – Solicitor-client privilege – Judicial review – Administrative decisions – Privacy commissioner – Standard of review – Correctness Legal Services Society v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), [2003] B.C.J. No. 1093, British Columbia Court of Appeal, May ...

Ewachniuk appealed a decision of a hearing panel of the Respondent Law Society of British Columbia that had found him guilty of professional misconduct in “attempting to intimidate” and in “actually intimidating” two witnesses from giving evidence at trial and in requesting Crown counsel lay charges against the same witnesses “for the purpose of preventing them from coming to Canada to give evidence in court”. The hearing panel further found that Ewachniuk must be disbarred as a result of misconduct and ordered him to pay the costs of the hearing. All grounds of appeal were dismissed.

22. July 2003 0
Administrative law – Judicial review – Administrative decisions – Standard of review – Unreasonableness – Delay – Barristers and solicitors – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct – Penalties – Disbarment – Costs Ewachniuk v. Law Society of British Columbia, [2003] B.C.J. No. 823, British Columbia Court of Appeal, April 15, 2003, Newbury, Huddart and Saunders JJ.A. A ...

A member of the Law Society of British Columbia and the Certified Accountants Association of British Columbia (the “Appellant”), brought an action for damages for defamation, malicious prosecution, negligence, misfeasance in public office etc. against the members of the Professional Conduct Inquiry Committee and the Director of Ethics of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (the “Respondents”) after they forwarded an investigator’s report to the Law Society and Certified General Accountants Association. The B.C. Court of Appeal held that a person who provides information to a professional disciplinary body about the conduct of one of its members, is not liable in an action brought by that member. The communication is subject to absolute privilege, which provides a defence to all claims. In addition, while the filing of a jury notice is an important factor to consider in assessing whether a matter is appropriate for summary trial, and may “hold an extra value in cases of defamation”, it is not a bar to bringing an application for summary trial pursuant to Rule 18A. The trial judge exercised his discretion in determining that the matter was appropriate for disposition by summary trial and made no error in principle in deciding the case under Rule 18A.

22. July 2003 0
Administrative law – Accountants – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigative bodies – Powers – Jurisdiction – Absolute privilege – Practice and procedure – Jury notice – Summary proceedings Hung v. Gardiner, [2003] B.C.J. No. 1048, British Columbia Court of Appeal, May 6, 2003, Ryan, Hall and Levine JJ.A. The Appellant is a member of the Law Society of ...

A former employee of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (“Yuan”) petitioned pursuant to the Judicial Review Procedure Act for declarations concerning the dismissal of his complaint pursuant to the Human Rights Code. Yuan also sought an Order remitting the issue of his complaint back to the Human Rights Commission for consideration. The British Columbia Supreme Court dismissed his Petition.

24. June 2003 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Duty to accommodate – Procedural fairness – Judicial review application – Investigative bodies – Fairness Yuan v. British Columbia (Human Rights Commission), [2003] B.C.J. No. 687, British Columbia Supreme Court, March 26, 2003, Melvin J. Yuan contended that the Commission, which had conducted an investigation and determined that ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by an organisation of individuals holding water licences (“Red Mountain”) against the cancellation of an integrated watershed management plan and a decision of the District Manager of the Arrow Forest District to permit the building of a logging road in the watershed supplying domestic water to the members of Red Mountain. The appeal was dismissed on the basis that Red Mountain could not rely on the doctrine of legitimate expectations to resurrect the Watershed Management Plan, and further that the issues surrounding the building of the road in the watershed area had been made moot.

24. June 2003 0
Administrative law – Environmental issues – Watershed management – Water licence holders – Forest practices – Judicial review – Natural justice – Legitimate expectations Red Mountain Residents and Property Owners Assn. v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests, British Columbia Forest Service, Arrow Forest District), [2003] B.C.J. No. 659, British Columbia Court of Appeal, March 26, 2003, ...

Members of the Petitioner British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (“BCTF”) joined a rally in protest of the decision of the legislature to pass the Education Services Collective Agreement Act, S.B.C. 2002 c. 1. The British Columbia Public Schools Employers Association (“BCPSEA”) brought an application before the Labour Relations Board to declare the attendance at the anticipated rally a breach of section 57 of the Labour Relations Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 244. The Labour Relations Board declared that a cessation of work would contravene section 57(1) of the Labour Relations Code. The Petitioners raised an argument that the definition of strike was unconstitutional. The Attorney General of BC brought a preliminary objection, submitting that the court ought to refer the constitutional question back to the Board. The court held that tribunals have the jurisdiction to consider the constitutionality of their enabling statutes and remitted the matter to the Board.

24. June 2003 0
Administrative law – Boards and tribunals – Labour Relations Board – Jurisdiction to hear constitutional questions relating to enabling statute British Columbia Teachers’ Federation v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [2003] B.C.J. No. 785, British Columbia Supreme Court, April 8, 2003, Satanove J. On January 28, 2002, members of the BCTF left the premises of their ...

A resident (“the resident”) in a housing co-operative appealed the decision of the general membership to terminate her membership in the co-operative, and to require her to vacate the unit. The court concluded that the co-op observed the principals of natural justice in terminating the resident’s membership and that the decision to terminate the membership was supported by the facts. Although the co-op refused to listen to all of the Resident’s evidence at the hearing, the court concluded that the co-operative had been reasonable in the way they dealt with the hearing and had complied with the Co-operative Association Act, R.S.B.C. 1999, c. 28 and the rules of natural justice in coming to their decision to evict the resident.

27. May 2003 0
Administrative law – Housing co-operatives – Governance – Membership – Termination – Judicial review – Natural justice DaCosta v. City Edge Housing Co-operative, [2003] B.C.J. No. 571, British Columbia Supreme Court, March 14, 2003, Baker J. Ms. DaCosta and her children were residents of the City Edge Housing Co-operative (“the Co-op”). Ms. DaCosta was in a ...