Saskatchewan Court of Appeal holds University of Saskatchewan Council was bound by their own internal regulations and failure to follow the regulations in this instance lead to a finding of a denial of procedural fairness

16. November 2021 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – University Appeal Board – University Committees – Jurisdiction – Suspension – Plagiarism – Judicial review – Appeals – Procedural requirements and fairness – Universities – Student discipline Akpan v. University of Saskatchewan Council, [2021] S.J. No. 407, 2021 SKCA 129, Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, September 29, 2021, P.A. Whitmore, ...

Hear me out! Judicial Review of the Vice President of Northern Lakes College decision to not convene a Student Appeals Committee after the applicant was removed from his practicum program

17. March 2020 0
The applicant was a student in the Primary Care Paramedic Program. He was removed from the program by Alberta Health Services, which ran a portion of the practicum program. The applicant was subsequently removed from the academic program for failure to complete his academic requirements. He sought a hearing in front of the Student Appeal ...

A tribunal reasonably declined an adjournment and reasonably proceeded with one hearing on liability and penalty

16. April 2019 0
Administrative law – Decisions reviewed – University Appeal Board – Adjournment of hearing – Judicial review – Appeals – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Reasonableness-  Universities – Student discipline Spence v. University of Toronto, [2019] O.J. No. 877, 2019 ONSC 1085, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, February 21, 2019, K.E. Swinton, ...

The Court of Appeal dismissed the University of Calgary’s appeal from a judicial review decision quashing disciplinary findings and sanctions against students found by the University to have conducted non-academic misconduct by posting comments about their professor on a Facebook wall. While the Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the Chambers judge’s decision to quash the Review Committee’s decision, the Court issued three separate concurring judgments, with the lead judgment revisiting the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1990 decision in McKinney v. University of Guelph, [1990] 3 SCR 229, and concluding that McKinney does not always preclude the application of the Charter to universities. In this circumstance, the lead judgment found that the Charter applied to university discipline and the students’ rights had been breached. The other two concurring judgments found it unnecessary to analyze the applicability of the Charter.

26. June 2012 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – University Committees – Universities – Student discipline – Internet – Social media – Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Freedom of expression – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Failure to provide reasons – Compliance with legislation – Standard of review – Correctness – Reasonableness ...

The decision of the Senate to suspend a university student for misconduct was set aside for lack of procedural fairness and an order was made to implement the Senate Committee’s recommendation allowing the student’s appeal

22. May 2012 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – University Committees – Universities – Student discipline – Investigations – Judicial review – Procedural requirements and fairness – Failure to provide reasons Dunne v. Memorial University of Newfoundland, [2012] N.J. No. 89, Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court, March 8, 2012, A.E. Faour J. Dunne, a student at ...

Two students successfully sought judicial review for a decision made by the University of Calgary’s General Faculties Council Review Committee (“Review Committee”) that placed the applicants, twin brothers and undergraduate students at the University of Calgary (the “University”), on probation for non-academic misconduct for posting negative comments on Facebook about a professor. The Court found that the applicants s. 2(b) Charter rights to free expression were infringed by the decision and not justified under s. 1 of the Charter. The Court further found that the Review Committee’s reasons were inadequate as they did not disclose the rational for its decision but simply stated a conclusion.

23. November 2010 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – University Committees – Universities – Student discipline – Charter of Rights and Freedoms – Freedom of expression – Internet – Social media – Judicial review – Failure to provide reasons Pridgen v. University of Calgary, [2010] A.J. No. 1181, 2010 ABQB 644, Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, ...

The appeal by the University of Saskatchewan (the “University”) from an interim arbitration award was allowed where the court found that the probation imposed on a medical resident by the College of Medicine following harassment complaints was academic in nature and not subject to the grievance procedure

24. February 2009 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – College of Medicine – Universities – Medical residents – Student discipline – Harassment – Labour law – Arbitration – Collective agreements – Judicial review – Jurisdiction – Procedural requirements and fairness – Standard of review – Correctness University of Saskatchewan v. Wilde, [2008] S.J. No. 814, Saskatchewan ...

The University applied for judicial review of an interim award of an arbitration panel which had found that a grievance brought by the Respondent, a medical resident, was arbitrable pursuant to the collective bargaining agreement. The University challenged the jurisdiction of the arbitration panel on the ground that the issue was academic in nature and thus not arbitrable. The application was dismissed.

27. May 2008 0
Administrative law – Decisions of administrative tribunals – Arbitration Board – Universities – Student discipline – Medical residents – Harassment – Judicial review – Labour law – Collective agreements – Arbitration – Jurisdiction of labour arbitrator to hear disciplinary grievances University of Saskatchewan v. Wilde, [2007] S.J. No. 736, Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench, October ...

The Court quashed a decision of the Appeals Committee of the respondent College refusing to readmit the applicant. The Committee’s reasons were inadequate and amounted to a breach of procedural fairness, and were so sparse as to render the decision unreasonable on the merits.

26. February 2008 0
Administrative law – Universities and colleges – Students – Admissions – Student discipline – Hearings – Procedural requirements and fairness – Failure to provide reasons – Judicial review – Standard of review – Reasonableness simpliciter Zeliony v. Red River College, [2007] M.J. No. 470, Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench, December 11, 2007, G.D. Joyal J. ...

A college is not required to refund tuition fees and interest paid on a student’s student loans if the student is expelled for cheating, if there is no evidence of an oblique motive on behalf of the College, if there is express forewarning of the consequences of cheating, and if the student fails to make written submissions within a reasonable amount of time after being invited to do so

27. November 2007 0
Administrative law – Universities – Student discipline – Expulsion – Judicial review – Bias – Natural justice – Procedural requirements and fairness Lisyikh v. Canadian Law Enforcement Training College, [2007] O.J. No. 3621, Ontario Superior Court of Justice, September 24, 2007, W. Low J. The Plaintiff enrolled in a ten-month course of the Defendant College ...