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Terms and Conditions May Apply: Tribunal Independence

There are two important Canadian doctrines which affect the structure of administrative tribunals: impartiality and independence. Impartiality arises where a well-informed observer would have a reasonable apprehension of bias in a substantial number of cases. Independence, meanwhile, concerns the insulation of tribunal members from outside influence, something to be judged by reference to security of […] Read more

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Expertise and the Copyright Board

I spent yesterday afternoon at an excellent conference in Ottawa on the Copyright Pentalogy. I was among the contributors from the collection on the pentalogy edited by Michael Geist who gave presentations. I was also the only non-copyright lawyer who spoke. Regular readers will not be surprised that I urged deference from the courts to […] Read more

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Referendum-itis

Apologies for this break from our usual fare, but my essay from last year on the referendum process in Ireland is no longer available on the Human Rights in Ireland blog. As we wait for the results of yesterday’s referendum, I cannot resist reposting my mischievous polemic. The low turnout and poor understanding of the […] Read more

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Procedural Fairness before Tribunals of Inquiry: Mr. Chevrette and the Charbonneau Commission

Quebec’s Charbonneau Commission is continuing to make headlines. Most recently, the testimony of Ken Pereira, a former trade union activist, is keeping the printing presses tipping over. The Commission registered an important victory earlier this week before the Superior Court on a question of procedural fairness: Beaulieu c. Charbonneau, 2013 QCCS 4629.One of the witnesses […] Read more

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Mark Elliott on Substantive Review

Mark Elliott has a very interesting post on substantive review on the UK Constitutional Law Blog. Here are some choice extracts, with some highlighting: A better starting point, I think, is another insight offered by Taggart, according to which public law is increasingly about the enforcement of a “culture of justification”… Against this background, several […] Read more

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Audrey Macklin on Divito

Audrey Macklin sent on some perceptive, though critical, comments on my post on last week’s Supreme Court of Canada decision in Divito. She kindly allowed me to share them: 1. I agree with your preference for the minority view on the breach of s. 6(1). If you are right that an inchoate appeal to positive/negative […] Read more