Welcome to the Regulation Pro Blog. SML’s blog contains brief discussions of court decisions and other developments in professional regulation, with one or two new posts per week. Explore our catalogue below or on CanLII.
Please note that the information contained in Regulation Pro is not intended to be legal advice and is not intended to be acted upon. The information contained herein is intended for general information and educational purposes only.
New Evidence in Hearings
Hearings de novo are strange creatures of administrative law. In effect, they are a complete redoing of a prior administrative decision – by a different
Regulators Can Insist on Proper Processes Being Followed
Regulators often insist on proper processes being followed. This occurred in Williams v. Health Professions Appeal and Review Board, 2022 ONSC 2217 (CanLII), https://canlii.ca/t/jnmm0. The
Refusing to Accept Further Submissions
A core element of procedural fairness is permitting those affected by a decision to make submissions on the matter before the decision is made. However,
Duty to Accommodate a Disability as a Defence in Discipline Hearings
Can a disability constitute a substantive defence to an allegation of professional misconduct? Must discipline panels accommodate a disability when making findings? This issue came
Leave the Room!
When a Council or Board member of a regulator has a conflict of interest, is simply declaring the conflict sufficient? A recent municipal Council case
Tweaking a Major Reform
British Columbia’s major reform of the regulation for many non-health professions is being amended (https://www.leg.bc.ca/parliamentary-business/legislation-debates-proceedings/42nd-parliament/3rd-session/bills/first-reading/gov21-1). The Professional Governance Act has been in effect for just
Disregarding an Invalid Order
If a regulator makes a flawed order, can the practitioner simply ignore it? Alberta’s highest court says “no”. In Alberta Securities Commission v Felgate, 2022
Intervention by a Friend of the Court
Courts sometimes allow third parties to participate (intervene) in proceedings in order to provide assistance to the Court. Many regulatory tribunals do so as well.
I Should Not Be Seeing This- Part 2
Recently we wrote about a civil case with implications for regulators. In Continental Bank of Canada v. Continental Currency Exchange Canada Inc., 2022 ONSC 647