The applicant landlord unsuccessfully sought leave to appeal a decision of the Residential Tenancies Commission which required him to pay compensation to the respondent tenants

27. May 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Residential Tenancy office – Landlord and tenant – Termination – Judicial review – Appeals – Leave to appeal – Compliance with legislation – Hearings – Procedural requirements and fairness Chong v. Wan, [2014] M.J. No. 97, 2014 MBCA 35, Manitoba Court of Appeal, April 16, 2014, B.M. ...

The Applicants (individual practitioners and their Association) were unsuccessful in challenging the Respondent Council’s registration regulation relating to the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine

25. March 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners – Governance – Self-governing professions – Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Legislation – Ultra vires Yuan v. Transitional Council of the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners and Acupuncturists of Ontario, [2014] O.J. ...

On judicial review, the court quashed a decision of the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Review Division on the basis that the Review Division unreasonably applied a cap to the applicant’s pension replacement benefit

25. March 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Workers Compensation Boards – Workers Compensation – Benefits – Loss of earnings – Pensions – Calculations – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Statutory interpretation – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Allen v. Newfoundland and Labrador (Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Review Division), [2014] N.J. ...

The petitioner, Pacific Booker Minerals Inc., owners of property on Morrison Lake, worked for several years to obtain an environmental assessment certificate under the Environmental Assessment Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 43 (the “Certificate”), to allow it to construct and operate copper/gold and minerals mine next to Morrison Lake, 65 kilometres northeast of Smithers. In August 2012, the Ministers of Environment and of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas (the “Ministers”) received a final assessment report from the Executive Director of the Environmental Assessment Office which concluded that although the project “would not result in any significant adverse effects with the successful implementation of mitigation measures and conditions”, the Executive Director nevertheless recommended Ministers refuse to issue a certificate. Based on the Executive Director’s report, the Ministers refused to issue the Certificate. On judicial review, the Court quashed and set aside the Ministers’ decision, and ordered that the petitioner’s application for a certificate be remitted back to the Ministers for reconsideration, on the basis of procedural fairness grounds. In particular, the petitioner had a reasonable expectation and right to be able to respond to at least the essence of the adverse recommendations and the “additional factors” raised by the Executive Director in his final report. The Court further ordered that the petitioner and the various First Nation group intervenors, be provided with the Executive Director’s recommendations to the Ministers, and an opportunity to provide a response to the recommendations.

25. February 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Environmental Assessment Office – Approval process – Environmental matters – Environmental Assessment Certificate – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Procedural requirements and fairness – Legitimate expectations Pacific Booker Minerals Inc. v. British Columbia (Minister of the Environment), [2013] B.C.J. No. 2694, 2013 BCSC 2258, British ...

The applicant, Mr. Fisher, applied for judicial review of an order of the Minister of the Department of Environment, Labour and Justice ordering the applicant to pay the costs of remediation services on the applicant’s property

25. February 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Ministerial orders – Environmental matters – Contaminated sites – Remediation – Costs – Judicial review – Natural justice – Procedural requirements and fairness – Compliance with legislation – Human rights – Charter of Rights and Freedoms Fisher v. Prince Edward Island (Minister of Environment, Labour and Justice), ...

The Divisional Court of Ontario permitted an application for judicial review by a student who had been expelled by the headmaster of a private school for smoking marijuana. The Court of Appeal held that such a decision was not within the jurisdiction of the court to review for two reasons: one, the nexus between the school’s enabling Act and the expulsion decision was not specific enough to make the decision an exercise of statutory power; and two, even if there was a nexus, the decision could not be reviewed by public law or subject to a public law remedy because the decision maker was a private school created by private statute, and its disciplinary decisions are regulated by contracts between the school and the students’ parents.

28. January 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – School boards – Powers and duties – Statutory provisions – Schools – Students – Code of conduct – Expulsion of students – Judicial review – Jurisdiction – Compliance with legislation Setia v. Appleby College, [2013] O.J. No. 5736, 2013 ONCA 753, Ontario Court of Appeal, December 13, ...

The Law Enforcement Review Board of Alberta overturned a Presiding Officer’s decision at a disciplinary hearing to terminate the employment of a constable who had admitted to 8 counts of misconduct. The Board held that the Presiding Officer’s failure to give weight to the impact of the constable’s depression on his misconduct, on which a psychologist gave expert evidence, was unreasonable, and it reinstated the constable’s employment. On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the Board erred when it failed to properly apply the reasonableness standard to the Presiding Officer’s decision. The Board substituted its own decision for a reasonable decision of the Presiding Officer.

28. January 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Enforcement Review Board – Police – Disciplinary proceedings – Penalties and suspensions – Hearings – Judicial review – Evidence – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Camrose (City) Police Service v. MacDonald, [2013] A.J. No. 1333, 2013 ABCA 422, Alberta Court of ...

After eight years, an articled student is given the right to be enrolled by the Law Society of British Columbia (“LawSoc”) with conditions

28. January 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Societies – Barristers and solicitors – Admission to profession – Hearings – Judicial review – Evidence – Credibility – Compliance with legislation – Failure to provide adequate reasons Mohan v. Law Society of British Columbia, [2013] B.C.J. No. 2487, 2013 BCCA 489, British Columbia Court of Appeal, ...

The Law Enforcement Review Board overturned a police chief’s dismissal of a complaint on the basis that the investigation was inadequate. The Alberta Court of Appeal overturned the Board’s order that the complaint be directed to a discplinary hearing, because the only appropriate order in the circumstances where there was an inadequate investigation, is to order further investigation. With respect to a second complaint of unlawful arrest, the Board overturned the Presiding Officer’s dismissal of a complaint on the basis that the officers did not have a warrant to enter the home where they made the arrest. The Court found that the Board erred in failing to consider whether the officers had consent to enter the home. As the Board did not consider whether the Presiding Office decided that the officers had consent to enter the home, the Board’s decision was incomplete on a vital point.

28. January 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Law Enforcement Review Board – Police – Disciplinary proceedings – Investigations – Inadequate investigations – Remedies – Judicial review – Evidence – Compliance with legislation Land v. Alberta (Law Enforcement Review Board), [2013] A.J. No. 1372, 2013 ABCA 435, Alberta Court of Appeal, December 16, 2013, C.M. ...

A refusal by Workers Compensation Board (“WCB”) to pay for an injured worker’s medical marihuana is found reasonable by the Court on judicial review

28. January 2014 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Workers Compensation Boards – Benefits – Medicinal use of marijuana – Judicial review – Compliance with legislation – Policies – Ultra vires – Jurisdiction – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Heilman v. Workers’ Compensation Board, [2013] S.J. No. 680, 2013 SKQB 403, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s ...