A political party contesting the civic election and an elected member of the Vancouver City Council applied for judicial review of a decision of the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer for the City of Vancouver, involving what is required for a person to be able to vote in the Vancouver civic election if they are not pre-registered or on the voters list on Election Day. The court held that a liberal interpretation ought to be given to statutes that deal with exercising the right to vote. The decision of the Deputy Chief Electoral Officer was held to be wrong.

25. February 2003 0
Administrative law – Elections – Right to vote – Documentation – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Judicial review application – Standard of review – Correctness Coalition of Progressive Electors v. Vancouver (Deputy Chief Electoral Officer), [2002] B.C.J. No. 2939, British Columbia Supreme Court, November 13, 2002, Powers, J. This was an application for judicial review of a ...

Mr. Frederickson was issued a 24-hour roadside suspension for failure to provide a breath sample to an RCMP officer. He was subsequently charged with impaired driving and refusal to comply with a breath demand. On an application for review of the driving prohibition, an adjudicator confirmed the 90-day prohibition and Mr. Frederickson did not seek judicial review of the adjudicator’s decision. Mr. Frederickson sought a stay of proceedings on the refusal to provide a breath sample, based on the defence of res judicata. A Provincial Court judge granted a stay of proceedings. On appeal of that decision, it was held that the rule in Kienapple does not apply to the circumstances of this case. Accordingly, the stay of proceedings was set aside and the matter was remitted for trial.

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Administrative law – Motor vehicles – Refusal of breathalyser test – Suspension of driver’s licence – Stay of proceedings – Res judicata – Kienapple rule R. v. Frederickson, [2002] B.C.J. No. 2895, British Columbia Supreme Court, December 23, 2002, Ross J. This was an appeal from a decision of a Provincial Court judge to enter ...

The Petitioner, a School Board, succeeded in its application to quash a decision of a BC Human Rights Tribunal, allowing a student’s complaint of discrimination against it

25. February 2003 0
Administrative law – Schools – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Sexual orientation – Judicial review – Standard of review – Correctness North Vancouver School District No. 44 v. Jubran, [2003] B.C.J. No. 10, British Columbia Supreme Court, January 2, 2003, Stewart, J. Jubran, a high school student, filed a complaint of discrimination against School District No. ...

A complainant to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (“Baltruweit”) was successful in his application to have the court overturn the decision of the Commission to dismiss his complaint at the investigative stage. The court held that the failure of the Commission to provide Baltruweit with the substance of the evidence of a legal opinion relating to the complaint was a breach of its duty of procedural fairness and the matter was referred back to the Commission for a re-determination.

28. January 2003 0
Administrative law – Human rights complaints – Discrimination – Disability – Evidence – Judicial review application – Breach of procedural fairness – Hearings – Disclosure – Solicitor-client privilege Baltruweit v. Canada (Attorney General), [2002] F.C.J. No. 1615, Federal Court of Canada – Trial Division, November 19, 2002, Gibson J. Baltruweit was employed by the Canadian Security Intelligence ...

Idowu was successful in his application to set aside an arbitrator’s award on the basis of reasonable apprehension of bias where the court found that the law firm for the opposing party had proposed the arbitrator but had failed to notify Idowu that two of their lawyers were directors of the company which employed the arbitrator and that one of their partners had a financial interest in that company.

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Administrative law – Arbitration and award – Arbitrators – Judicial review – Bias Idowu v. York Condominium Corp. No. 128, [2002] O.J. No. 2102, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, May 21, 2002m Nordheimer J. Idowu owned three units in York Condominium. An issue arose as to whether Idowu was using these units as “rooming houses” contrary ...

Manitoba was unsuccessful in its appeal of a decision allowing a Statement of Claim filed by one of its employees (“Desrivieres”) to stand. The action commenced by Desrivieres sought entitlement to disability benefits under the government employee plan. The court held that the dispute resolution mechanism in this Plan did not oust the jurisdiction of the court.

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Administrative law – Government – Employees – Benefit plans – Dispute resolution schemes – Jurisdiction – Final and binding – Definition – Adjudication – Jurisdiction of court – Labour law – Collective agreements Desrivieres v. Manitoba, [2002] M.J. No. 449, Manitoba Court of Appeal, November 15, 2002, Scott C.J.M., Monnin and Hamilton JJ.A. This case involved the issue of whether ...

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.

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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.

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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 ...

An inmate (“Smith”) at the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre (“FSCC”) succeeded in his application for judicial review of a decision by the Disciplinary Board which found that he had violated regulations by consuming marijuana. The court held that the Board’s failure to allow Smith to be represented by counsel was a breach of the principles of natural justice as the charge had serious consequences, was complex and Smith did not have sufficient capacity to properly represent himself at the hearing.

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Administrative law – Prisons – Discipline of inmates – Use of narcotics – Judicial review application – Right to legal counsel – Natural justice – Remedies – Habeas corpus – Standard of review – Correctness Smith v. Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre, [2002] A.J. No. 1472, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, November 28, 2002, Clackson J. Smith was an ...

The majority of the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the appeal of a B.C. Court of Appeal decision setting aside the decision of the B.C. Supreme Court which quashed a school board resolution declining to approve three books depicting same-sex parented families as supplementary learning resources for use in kindergarten/grade one classrooms. The majority concluded that the School Board’s decision was unreasonable in the context of the educational scheme laid down by the legislature. The question whether the books should be approved as supplementary learning resources was remanded to the Board’s consideration according to the criteria laid out in the curriculum guidelines and the broad principles of tolerance and non-sectarianism underlying the School Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 412.

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Administrative law – School boards – Powers and duties – Selection of books – Statutory provisions – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness Chamberlain v. Surrey School District No. 36, [2002] S.C.J. No. 87, Supreme Court of Canada, December 20, 2002, McLachlin C.J. and L’Heureux-Dubé, Gonthier, Iacobucci, Major, Bastarache, Binnie, Arbour and LeBel JJ. ...