The Appellant, Envirocon Environmental Services ULC, successfully appealed a Chambers decision. The Chambers Judge had refused to interfere with the Tribunal’s application of the legal test for indirect or adverse effect discrimination. The Court of Appeal held the Tribunal’s decision was patently unreasonable.

16. April 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Human rights tribunal – Discrimination – Judicial review – Appeals – Standard of review – Correctness – Patent unreasonableness – Employment – Termination of employment Envirocon Environmental Services ULC v. Suen, [2019] B.C.J. No. 146, 2019 BCCA 46, British Columbia Court of Appeal, February 5, 2019, S.D. Frankel, S. Stromberg-Stein ...

Decision to uphold medical school participant’s dismissal from the program due to theft was found to be unreasonable because the appeal tribunal failed to consider the law regarding the school’s duty to accommodate the participant’s mental health disorder

19. March 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – University Appeal Board – Judicial review – Appeals – Standard of review – Reasonableness – Universities – Duty to accommodate – Professors – Professional governance and discipline – Professional misconduct / conduct unbecoming Haghir v. University of Saskatchewan, [2019] S.J. No. 34, 2019 SKCA 13, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, January 30, ...

Federal Court agrees with veteran pension applicant that it was unreasonable for the pension appeal panel to consider his supporting physician’s opinion linking his injury to his armed forces services to be speculative and thus not credible. Panel’s decision was set aside and returned to a differently constituted panel for redetermination.

19. March 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Veterans Review and Appeal Board – Pension Appeals Board – Disability – Eligibility – Judicial review – Appeals – Evidence – Standard of review – Reasonableness Crummey v. Canada (Attorney General), [2019] F.C.J. No. 54, 2019 FC 73, Federal Court (Halifax, Nova Scotia), January 18, 2019, R.F. Southcott J. The ...

An application for information from exempted records – not for the records – is not a valid application for access to information

19. March 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Privacy commissioner – Freedom of information and protection of privacy – Municipal employees – Disclosure – Judicial review – Appeals – Jurisdiction Raymond v. Nova Scotia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), [2019] N.S.J. No. 7, 2019 NSCA 1, Nova Scotia Court of Appeal, January 11, 2019, P. Bryson, E. Van den Eynden and A.S. ...

Procedural fairness is reviewed on a standard of correctness

19. March 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Municipal Councillor – Judicial review – Appeals – Natural justice – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness Murray Purcha & Son Ltd. v. Barriere (District), [2019] B.C.J. No. 2, 2019 BCCA 4, British Columbia Court of Appeal, January 3, 2019, S. Stromberg-Stein, J.E.D. Savage and J.J.L. Hunter ...

On judicial review, a B.C. Court held that the District’s decision not to grant business licenses for short-term rentals accords with the relevant business license and zoning bylaws.

19. February 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Municipal councils – Municipalities – By-laws – Planning and zoning – Permits and licences – Judicial review — Compliance with legislation Mailloux v. Tofino (District), [2018] BCJ No 6987, 2018 BCSC 2298, British Columbia Supreme Court, December 24, 2018, LA Loo J The petitioners were townhouse owners in Tofino ...

The B.C. Court of Appeal upheld the Law Society of B.C.’s finding that the lawyer had committed professional misconduct by failing to disclose a conflict of interest to a client, and held it was within the review panel’s discretion to impose a five month suspension on the lawyer.

19. February 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Law Societies – Permits and licences – Judicial review – Appeals – Standard of review – Reasonableness – Barristers and solicitors – Conflict of interest – Professional misconduct – Suspension Strother v. Law Society of British Columbia, [2018] BCJ No 6982, 2018 BCCA 481, British Columbia Court of Appeal, ...

The applicant made a request for personal information from the Communications Security Establishment. He claimed the response was unsatisfactory. He filed a formal complaint with the Officer of Privacy Commissioner of Canada, claiming that he had been improperly denied access to his personal information. The complaint was rejected by the Privacy Commissioner. The applicant was unsuccessful before the court on judicial review. The court recognized the sensitivity of the information being requested and concluded that, in respect of some of that information, the decision of the CSE to neither deny nor confirm its existence was reasonable.

19. February 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Privacy Commissioner – National defence – Disclosure of records – Judicial review – Evidence – Standard of review – Reasonableness Martinez v. Communications Security Establishment, [2018] F.C.J. No. 1190, 2018 FC 1179, Ontario Federal Court, November 23, 2018, S.E. Roussel J. The Communications Security Establishment (the “CSE”) is administered ...

The appellant’s claim for Workers’ Compensation benefits was denied after she experienced a traumatic event at her job as a correctional officer. The appellant was eventually diagnosed with PTSD, but the Workers’ Compensation Tribunal upheld the Commission’s decision that this was not new evidence that would substantially affect its original decision denying benefits. The Court of Appeal found the Tribunal made several errors that materially affected the outcome. The Tribunal’s decision was set aside and an order was made to provide the appellant benefits retroactively to the date of the original claim.

19. February 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Workers’ Compensation Tribunal – Benefits – Psychological injuries – Judicial review – Appeals – New evidence Perry v. New Brunswick (Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission), [2018] N.B.J. No. 291, 2018 NBCA 80, New Brunswick Court of Appeal, November 29, 2018, K.A. Quigg, B.V. Green and R.T. French JJ.A. ...

The petitioner hospital was unsuccessful on judicial review in setting aside the decision of the Human Rights Tribunal to not summarily dismiss a human rights complaint as having no reasonable prospect of success under section 27(1) of the Human Rights Code. The complaint was for alleged discrimination by the hospital on the grounds of mental and physical disability in relation to the provision of services. The court found that the complaint had some prospect of success and that the Tribunal’s decision was not patently unreasonable. The court rejected the argument that the Tribunal was not in a position to second-guess the exercise of professional medical judgment by the hospital staff in the provision of services, absent discrimination.

19. February 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – Human Rights Tribunal – Discrimination – Disability – Judicial review – Jurisdiction – Standard of review – Patent unreasonableness – Practice and procedure – Summary proceedings Hospital v. J.R. (Litigation guardian of), [2018] B.C.J. No. 3731, 2018 BCSC 2079, British Columbia Supreme Court, November 26, 2018, L.W. Bernard J. ...