Two probationary officers in the Saskatoon Police Service were dismissed by the Chief of Police as being unsuitable for police service after they committed plagiarism while at Police College. Their Union sought to grieve the dismissals under the collective bargaining agreement. The Employer under the collective agreement, the Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners, took the position that it lacked the jurisdiction to deal with the grievances because they dealt with discipline issues rather than employer-employee issues. A board of arbitration found the grievances to be arbitrable, and the Chief of Police successfully appealed. The issue on appeal was whether the arbitration board had correctly found that it had jurisdiction to deal with the grievances.

23. March 2004 0
Administrative law – Police – Penalties and suspensions – Plagiarism at police college – Labour law – Arbitration – Collective agreements – Jurisdiction of labour arbitrator to hear disciplinary grievances – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Police Commission – Jurisdiction – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Saskatoon (City) Police Force v. Saskatoon (Police Commission), ...

A physician (“Dr. Young”) successfully appealed both the decision of the Disciplinary Hearing Committee (the “Committee”) of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan (the “College”) in which he was found guilty of unbecoming, improper, unprofessional or discreditable conduct and the associated penalty

23. March 2004 0
Administrative law – Physicians and surgeons – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Evidence – Reliability – Witnesses – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Young v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, [2004] S.J. No. 21, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, January 13, 2004, Koch J. Dr. Young was ...

Mrs. Lewis appealed the Director of the Department of Labour’s decision cancelling an officer’s decision that the School Board had wrongfully discriminated against the appellant. In 1996, Mrs. Lewis suspected that the cause of her health problems arose from the modular classroom to which she had recently been assigned and complained to the Board of Education. The Board declared that the classroom was safe. Mrs. Lewis filed a complaint with the Occupational Health and Safety Division of the Department of Labour, claiming that the Board had discriminated against her by failing to find her a new classroom. The tribunal held that the Board had failed to provide good and sufficient reasons for its failure to provide an alternative classroom. The Board appealed the decision and was successful on appeal. Mrs. Lewis appealed to the Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, who held that the adjudicator committed no error in concluding that there was no discriminatory action by the Board against Mrs. Lewis. Mrs. Lewis’ appeal was dismissed.

28. October 2003 0
Administrative law – Labour law – Working conditions – Schools – Teachers – Discrimination Lewis v. Regional School Division No. 4, [2003] S.J. No. 526, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, July 31, 2003, Matheson J. After being assigned to the modular classroom in 1996, Mrs. Lewis began to experience persistent health problems. Her family doctor ...

Dr. Anstead was unsuccessful in his application for a judicial review of the decision of the executive committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan appointing a competency committee. The court held that Dr. Anstead failed to establish that the committee conducting the assessment had violated confidentiality requirements of the by-laws or otherwise exceeded its jurisdiction in reporting its concerns to the College.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Physicians and surgeons – Governance – Competence committee – Confidentiality of findings – Jurisdiction – Public interest – Judicial review application Anstead v. College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan, [2003] S.J. No. 463, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, May 26, 2003, G.A. Smith J. Anstead was a registered physician with the College ...

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench heard two appeals under section 41 of the Chiropractic Act, S.S. 1994, c.C-10 from a decision of the Discipline Committee finding the appellant chiropractors guilty of professional misconduct for following a pattern of practice of ordering the preparation of plain film radiographs by the use of X-rays when it was not clinically necessary or appropriate to do so. One of the appellants was also found guilty of following a pattern of practice of ordering the preparation of plain film radiographs on an expectation of financial reward to accrue to him as a result of his ownership in an X-ray medical imaging business. The court ultimately quashed both findings of guilt based on this “pattern of practice”.

27. May 2003 0
Administrative law – Chiropractors – Disciplinary proceedings – Billing matters – Pattern of practice – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Judicial review – Administrative decisions – Standard of review of appellate court Thompson v. Chiropractors’ Assn. of Saskatchewan, [2003] S.J. No. 186, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, March 21, 2003, Rothery J. The complaints arose ...

An owner of property (“Price Club”) was unsuccessful in its appeal of a decision of the Assessment Appeals Committee restoring a reassessment of the property by the Assessor which had increased the assessed value of the property by almost $1,000,000. The court held that the Assessor had properly calculated the property’s market adjustment factor and the decision to change the classification of the building for assessment purposes was appropriate and fell within the broad discretion granted to the Assessor.

22. April 2003 0
Administrative law – Municipalities – Property assessment – Appeals – Market adjustment factor Price Club Canada Real Estate Inc. v. Regina (City), [2003] S.J. No. 80, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, February 4, 2003, Bayda C.J.S., Tallis and Jackson JJ.A This appeal concerns a 1999 assessment of Price Club’s property located at 665 University Park Drive ...

The Appellant was charged with professional misconduct after publicly demonstrating with a group outside of the Planned Parenthood Sexual Health Centre in Regina. Prior to the hearing, the applicant sought a writ of prohibition to prohibit the Discipline Committee from proceeding with the hearing into his conduct on the grounds that his Charter rights would be infringed if the Discipline Committee determined that whatever occurred while he was picketing amounted to professional misconduct within the meaning of the Act. The court concluded that the Act provides an alternative remedy with rights of appeal for the member being disciplined and that the alternative remedy was adequate. The applicant’s application was dismissed in its entirety and the Association was awarded costs.

25. March 2003 0
Administrative law – Nurses – Disciplinary proceedings – Professional misconduct or conduct unbecoming – Charter of Rights – Remedies – Alternative remedies – Self-governing professions – Statutory provisions Whatcott v. Saskatchewan Assn. of Licensed Practical Nurses, [2003] S.J. No. 54, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, January 7, 2003, Gunn J. The applicant was a member of the ...

A minister of the United Church (“Graham”) was unsuccessful in her application seeking judicial review of a decision by the Saskatchewan Conference of the Church (the “Conference”) to conduct a formal disciplinary hearing into Graham’s actions as a minister. The court held that the Conference was entitled to proceed despite the fact that decisions from an earlier “care and oversight” review by the Presbytery had been quashed, as the Conference had concurrent jurisdiction with Presbytery to conduct such a review and defects in the prior procedure could be cured by initiating a fresh process.

28. January 2003 0
Religious organizations – Governance – Church ministers – Disciplinary proceedings – Suspensions – Hearings – Judicial review – Breach of procedural fairness – Natural justice – Jurisdiction Graham v. United Church of Canada, [2002] S.J. No. 596, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, November 15, 2002, Foley J. Graham was a minister of the United Church of Canada. ...

Arch Transco Ltd. (“Arch Transco”) succeeded in its appeal of the decision dismissing its application seeking to quash an Order made by the fire inspector of the City of Regina (the “City”). The Court of Appeal held that the City’s failure to outline the process of appealing the Order at the time of issuance was fatal and rejected the City’s proposal to issue a new Order containing such appeal details as this was not a sufficient remedy.

28. January 2003 0
Administrative law – Municipalities – Fire inspection – Underground storage tanks – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Procedural requirements – Appeal process – Remedies – Certiorari Arch Transco Ltd. v. Regina (City), [2002] S.J. No. 637, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, November 13, 2002, Tallis, Cameron and Jackson JJ.A. On January 3, 2001, a fire inspector ...

Ms. Ennis was hired as the manager of the Prince Albert Elks Club (the “Club”). She was fired approximately two weeks later after the Club learned that she was married to a convicted murderer. Ms. Ennis filed a complaint to the Human Rights Commission, alleging discrimination because of marital status. The Board of Inquiry did not find discrimination based on marital status as defined in the Regulations. The Court of Appeal disagreed.

22. October 2002 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Marital status Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Prince Albert Elks Club Inc., [2002] S.J. No. 552, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, September 26, 2002, Vancise, Lane and Jackson JJ.A. Ms. Ennis married Mr. Ennis in 1993 while he was serving a life sentence at a penitentiary for ...