Sentencing Considerations for Contempt of Court for Holding Out and Use of Title

Home » Sentencing Considerations for Contempt of Court for Holding Out and Use of Title

In College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia v Ezzati, 2020 BCSC 339, http://canlii.ca/t/j5s7k the Court had to decide what sentence to impose on an unregistered person who held themselves out as able to practise medicine and used protected titles such as “physician” and “Doctor”. The Court identified the following factors as relevant to that decision:

the gravity of the offence (in this case disregarding a court order);
the need to deter the offender;
the past record and character of the offender (e.g., is this a first finding);
the need to protect the public from the offender’s conduct;
the ability of the offender to pay a fine; and
the “extent to which the breach was flagrant and wilful and intended to defy the court’s authority”.

In applying those considerations to the conduct of this individual, the Court imposed a fine of $5,000.

More Posts

UK Approach to the Regulation of Registrants’ Private Conduct

There is considerable discussion in Canada as to when regulators of professions should investigate the private conduct of registrants. Insight about the UK approach can

More on the Mandate of Regulators

The mandate of regulators is an increasingly contentious topic. At its core, the issue is whether regulators should define their public interest mandate as going

Screening Appointments

The appointments made by regulators are important. These include the selection of the regulator’s Registrar and/or CEO, appointments to committees (e.g., a discipline tribunal) and,

Circumventing the Implied Undertaking Rule

Regulators must often disclose all relevant information, that is not privileged, in its legal proceedings such as discipline hearings. However, the party receiving the disclosure