Parties appearing before adjudicative tribunals are entitled to representation by an agent of their choosing, but tribunals retain a residual discretion to override this general right, provided that the discretion is properly exercised. The Discipline Committee of the Association of New Brunswick Registered Nursing Assistants refused to allow the Appellant, a Registered Nursing Assistant (“RNA”) to be represented by a non-lawyer, a national representative of the Appellant’s union. The fact that the Registered Nursing Assistants Act allowed for legal representation does not support the inference that the right to lay representation has been abrogated. The section is permissive and does not restrict nor prohibit any party from attending with a representative of his or her choice. The Association’s decision to prohibit a non-lawyer to act as the Appellant’s agent was based on a false or unsubstantiated premise that he was practising law in contravention of the Law Society Act and breached its fairness duty. Accordingly, the appeal was allowed and the decisions of the Association, with respect to the finding of professional misconduct and the order to pay costs, were set aside.

28. October 2003 0
Administrative law – Practice and procedure – Boards and tribunals – Right of parties to choose an agent Thomas v. Assn. of New Brunswick Registered Nursing Assistants, [2003] N.B.J. No. 327, New Brunswick Court of Appeal, September 4, 2003, Rice, Turnbull and Robertson JJ.A. The Appellant, a Registered Nursing Assistant, appeared before a Disciplinary Committee of ...

The Petitioners, female communications operators at the Vancouver Police Department, sought judicial review of a Human Rights Tribunal’s decision dismissing their claims that they were paid less than male communications operators doing the same work at the Vancouver Fire Department contrary to sections 12 and 13 of the Human Rights Code (the “Code”). The Tribunal concluded that for the purposes of wage discrimination under section 12 of the Code, the City, who employed the Fire Dispatchers, was not the Petitioner’s employer and therefore no wage-discrimination between employees of different sexes could have occurred.

28. October 2003 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Wage disparity – Gender – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness Reid v. Vancouver (City), [2003] B.C.J. No. 2043, British Columbia Supreme Court, September 3, 2003, Garson J. Section 12 of the Human Rights Code, R.S.B.C. 1996, ...

The Western Canada Wilderness Committee (“WCWC”) appealed a decision of a chambers judge setting aside the WCWC’s petition for judicial review of a Ministry of Forests District Manager’s decision (“DM”) that a logging cutback referred to in a Forest Development Plan (“FDP”) met the requirement of s.41(1) of the Forest Practices Code of British Columbia Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c.159 (the “Code”) as it related to the spotted owl, in that the FDP would “adequately manage and conserve the forest resources of the area to which it applied”. The appeal was dismissed.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Environmental issues – Forest practices – Precautionary principle – Wildlife habitat – Spotted Owl – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness Western Canada Wilderness Committee v. British Columbia (Ministry of Forestry, South Island Forest District), [2003] B.C.J. No. 1581, British Columbia Court of Appeal, July 8, ...

The court, on judicial review, found that the interpretation given by the Assistant Information and Privacy Commissioner (the “Commissioner”) to subsection 21(5) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the “Act”), which allowed an institution to deny the requester the right to know whether a record exists, even if it does not, was “unsupported by any reasons that can stand up to a somewhat probing examination” (Law Society of New Brunswick v. Ryan, [2003] S.C.J. No. 17). In the result, the Commissioner’s decision was set aside and the Ministry’s decision to refuse to confirm or deny the existence of any responsive records in relation to the requests was confirmed.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Freedom of information and protection of privacy – Disclosure – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Ontario (Minister of Health and Long-Term Care) v. Ontario (Assistant Information and Privacy Commissioner), [2003] O.J. No. 2601, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, June 26, 2003, Blair, Lang and C. ...

On application by a customer of Telus Communications Inc. (“Telus) for local residential service under provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (the “PIPEDA”), the court held that Telus had valid consent under PIPEDA to publish its customers’ personal information in Telus directories. The court also held that PIPEDA did not restrict Telus from charging a fee for the provision of Non-Published Number Service (“NPNS”).

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Freedom of information and protection of privacy – Disclosure – Telephone listings – Fee for unlisted numbers Englander v. Telus Communications Inc., [2003] F.C.J. No. 975, Federal Court of Canada – Trial Division, June 3, 2003, Blais J. The Applicant Englander, a customer of Telus Communications Inc. (“Telus”) for local residential telephone ...

The Plaintiff Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (“NTI”), in its action against the Federal Government, claimed that the Firearms Act, R.S.C. 1995, c.39, legislation which introduced a universal licensing and registration scheme for the possession, use and purchase of all firearms and ammunition, unlawfully infringed upon the rights guaranteed to Inuit under the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement (“NLCA”). Pending trial, the court allowed NTI’s application for an interlocutory order staying application of provisions of the Firearms Act and Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985 c.46, on the basis that the alleged infringement of a treaty right may cause collateral damage to important Inuit interests.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Aboriginal issues – Firearms registration – Infringement on Aboriginal rights – Damages – Stay of proceedings Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General), [2003] Nu.J. No. 2, Nunavut Court of Justice, July 8, 2003, Kilpatrick J. The Plaintiff Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (“NTI”), on behalf of Inuit enrolled as beneficiaries under the Nunavut Land ...

The Minister of Health Planning was successful in overturning a portion of the remedy aspect of a decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal directing the Minister to amend the birth registration form to provide an option of identifying as a parent, a non-biological parent who is the co-parent of a mother or a father. The court found that the Human Rights Tribunal was within its jurisdiction to Order that the Minister cease discriminating against same gender parents but exceeded its jurisdiction in directing that the Minister take specific steps with respect to altering the birth registration form.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Human Rights Tribunal – Jurisdiction – Remedies – Declaratory relief – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Sexual orientation – Gender – Parent – definition – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness British Columbia (Minister of Health Planning) v. British Columbia (Human Rights Tribunal), [2003] B.C.J. No. 17552, British ...

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 Workers’ Compensation Commission was unsuccessful in appealing a decision of the Trial Division which had overturned a decision of one of the Commission’s internal review specialists relating to whether or not the Commission was entitled to maintain a subrogated action. The Court of Appeal found that the decision of the internal review specialist was patently unreasonable as it resulted from an inappropriate approach to statutory interpretation.

23. September 2003 0
Administrative law – Workers compensation – Subrogated actions – Administrative decisions – Statutory provisions – Use – Definition – Statutory interpretation vs. judicial interpretation – Judicial review application – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness Warford v. Weir’s Construction Ltd., [2003] N.J. No. 178, Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court – Court of Appeal, July 17, 2003, Cameron, ...

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 ...