CLEBC - Courses On Demand

Administrative Law Conference 2016

Course Date: November 18, 2016

Total: 5h 14min

Welcome and Introduction

Frank A.V. Falzon, QC – Frank A.V. Falzon Law Corporation, Victoria
Elena F. Miller – British Columbia Labour Relations Board, Vancouver

Opening Address: What I Think I've Learned About Administrative Law

The Honourable Thomas A. Cromwell – Retired Supreme Court of Canada Justice, Ottawa

Year in Review: Recent Developments in Administrative Law

• the constitutional foundations of judicial review and the legacy of Fraser Health Authority
• human rights adjudications – the ultimate test of the coherence of Dunsmuir and its progeny?
• judicial review of decisions engaging Charter rights, freedoms and values: the continuing saga of Trinity Western
• standard of review and its role in the review of subordinate legislation – air miles for drugs at Sobeys in Alberta and BC
• Wilson - the death of "margins of appreciation" within reasonableness and patent unreasonableness review?
• review of factual findings and associated evidential and onus of proof rulings after Fraser Health Authority
• tribunal reconsiderations after Fraser Health Authority
• rethinking and reconfiguring public participation in public interest regulation – procedural innovation at the NEB
• what might Hamlet of Clyde River and Chippewas of the Thames First Nation resolve in terms of the role of tribunals and agencies in the duty to consult and accommodate indigenous peoples?
• regulatory liability: does Paradis Honey provide a path to a more sustainable regime?

David J. Mullan – Professor Emeritus, Faculty of Law, Queen’s University, Kingston

Networking Break

Year in Review: British Columbia Case Law

• recent developments of interest in BC administrative law jurisprudence
• recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions with BC administrative law implications

Nitya Iyer – Lovett Westmacott, Vancouver
Karrie A. Wolfe – Ministry of Justice, Victoria

Networking Lunch

Designing Administrative Justice

• what goes into the development of new statutory dispute resolution mechanisms
• how are the principles of administrative law that animate these mechanisms evolving, in response to innovations in active adjudication, the logic of proportionality, access to justice and scarce resources

Lorne Sossin – Dean and Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto

Proportionality, Reasonableness, Values: Administrative Law Post-Dore

• brief overview of the concept of proportionality in public law
• how Doré is part of common law constitutionalism
• compare and contrast administrative law proportionality with Charter proportionality
• how proportionality informs Doré’s mandate for administrative decision-makers making discretionary decisions
• how proportionality informs reasonableness review including statutory interpretation, analytic frameworks, public law values, scrutiny of reasons, and deference
• key points using a small set of recent cases from federal and provincial appellate courts
• rainbows and unicorns? - current problems and future directions

Mary Liston – Professor, Faculty of Law at Allard Hall, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

Networking Break

Issues in the Practical Application of Curial Deference Principles by the Judiciary

• how does the case law differentiate between “correctness review” and “reasonableness review” and how easy is this distinction for judges to apply?
• to what extent does the distinction matter in the practical adjudication of cases, and in what contexts does the distinction matter most?
• to what extent does the nature of the decision-maker (i.e., mandate, structure, independence, appointments) enter into the application of the reasonableness test?
• the importance of a decision-maker’s reasons in the application of curial deference.

The Honourable Madam Justice Lauri Ann Fenlon – Court of Appeal of BC, Vancouver

Closing Remarks and Wrap-up