SML’s Grey Areas newsletter has been in publication since July 1992 and discusses the latest developments in professional regulation. New issues are published monthly – subscribe below to learn more about recent studies, case law and legislative updates in the regulatory world. Explore our catalogue below.
Issues published before 2020 can be found on CanLII.
In Part 1 of this article, we examined how Canadian courts have approached a registrant’s lack of remorse for (or “acknowledgement” of) allegations when imposing disciplinary sanctions. We posited that the approach has been technical, inconsistent, and difficult to apply. In this article we propose that a “degree of insight” approach can sidestep the issue and bring a principled approach
Despite some strong pronouncements from the courts, ambiguity remains for disciplinary panels considering a lack of “remorse” by a registrant when imposing sanctions.
A recent research paper concludes that even extensive transparency requirements are not enough to ensure that self-regulating professions effectively protect the public from serious safety concerns.
As discussed in the July edition of Grey Areas, whistleblowers are insiders within an organization who disclose apparent wrongdoing to outsiders because the organization is unable or unwilling to address the issue.
Whistleblowers are insiders within an organization who disclose apparent wrongdoing to outsiders because the organization is unable or unwilling to address the issue. The motivation of the whistleblower can be altruistic, for personal advantage, or to be disruptive (or a combination thereof). Often, but not always, whistleblowers want to keep their identities confidential.
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Regulators of professions and industries dwell in inconsistency. Many registrants practice their profession within a system that is often beyond their control. Yet regulators usually only have jurisdiction over a registrants’ individual actions and oversee only individual registrants despite trying to address failures flowing from the work