CLE Online

Welcome and Land Acknowledgement (9:00 – 9:10)

Nadia Myerthall — Program Lawyer, CLEBC, Vancouver
Alison M. Latimer, QC — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Elena F. Miller — BC Labour Relations Board, Vancouver

Opening Address—Litigating and Deciding Administrative Law Cases at the Supreme Court of Canada (9:10 – 9:50)

The Honourable Mr. Justice Mahmud Jamal — Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa

BREAK (9:50 – 10:05)

Year in Review: Administrative Law in the Supreme Court of Canada (10:05 – 11:10)

• assessing procedural fairness, delay and remedies in administrative law in light of Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz
• providing an update on the operation of the Vavilov framework by the Supreme Court (in Entertainment Software Association) and provincial Courts of Appeal
• critically analyzing the implications for administrative tribunals of the Supreme Court's analysis in R. v. Sullivan
• setting the table for the Supreme Court's next big administrative law decisions in A.B. (language rights and Doré), Mason (immigration law, certified questions and statutory interpretation), and Canadian Council of Refugees (systemic challenges to regulatory regimes)

Paul Daly — University Research Chair in Administrative Law & Governance, University of Ottawa, Ottawa

BREAK (11:10 – 11:25)

Year in Review: BC Case Law (11:25 – 12:30)

• recent developments of interest in BC administrative law jurisprudence
• topics will include reasonable apprehension of bias, trends in preliminary issues such as delay and prematurity, and recent commentary on standard of review for questions of vires
• as applicable, recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions from the perspective of their implications for BC administrative law

Kaitlyn Chewka — Lovett Westmacott, Victoria
Alandra K. Harlingten — Lovett Westmacott, Victoria

LUNCH BREAK (12:30 – 1:10)

Section 96 and Administrative Tribunals, Part II: Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General) (1:10 – 1:55)

• understanding the Court of Appeal's decision: overview of the reasoning of the majority and the dissent, with reference to the s. 96 doctrinal framework
• what were some of the key points of controversy in the appeal, and how did the Court of Appeal resolve them
• how does the Court of Appeal's decision re-shape the s. 96 landscape
• what are the issues to watch in the event of an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada
• what are the implications of the decisions for administrative tribunals, and those who practice before administrative tribunals

Aubin Calvert — Hunter Litigation Chambers, Vancouver

BREAK (1:55 – 2:10)

Dawson and the Dilemma of Double Deference (2:10 – 2:55)

• discussion of The College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia v. The Health Professions Review Board, 2022 BCCA 10 ["Dawson"]
• standing of tribunals to appeal judicial review decisions
• standard of "adequacy" in the investigation context
• meaning of patent unreasonableness post Vavilov
• scope of review and the standard of review in the two-tier tribunal context 
• stacked deferential standards of review

Timothy J. Martiniuk — Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal, Richmond

BREAK (2:55 – 3:10)

Navigating the Landscape of Charter Values in Administrative Law in BC (3:10 – 3:55)

• brief background to the ongoing mystery of Charter values in administrative law practice
• based on a review of recent BC (and other) jurisprudence:
  • how do Charter values issues arise for administrative decision-makers, and when is a Charter values analysis required, what does such an analysis involve in practice
  • how are Charter values issues dealt with on judicial review, what standard of review applies
  • what questions remain unanswered 
• Charter values cases to watch in future (in BC and elsewhere)

Karrie A. Wolfe — Legal Counsel, Ministry of Attorney General, Victoria

Closing Remarks (3:55 – 4:00)

Alison M. Latimer, QC — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver
Elena F. Miller — BC Labour Relations Board, Vancouver