This week, I am giving the Hugh Ketcheson Memorial Lecture in Saskatchewan (remotely) on the topic of “Unresolved Issues After Vavilov” (see my earlier collection of posts). The last part is on the constitutional foundations of Vavilov. Here is a draft: In Dunsmuir v New Brunswick, Bastarache and LeBel JJ framed their rearticulation of the […] Read more

The Immigration and Refugee Board is Canada’s largest administrative tribunal. It makes tens of thousands of determinations each year in refugee and immigration matters where the stakes are as high as they can be in administrative adjudication. Ensuring consistent decision-making in a high-volume tribunal, with members spread out across the country, is a significant challenge. […] Read more

COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Ontario. The Premier will give a press conference this afternoon. Portentously, it is Friday the 13th. At issue is the province’s recently published plan for the tightening and loosening of restrictions on economic activity. Ontario’s COVID hotspots — Toronto, Peel and Ottawa — had been operating under increased […] Read more

I have posted “Vavilov at One” to SSRN. It is a comprehensive review of the first year of the roll-out of the framework established in Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65. Here is the abstract: A year ago, in Canada (Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, the Supreme Court of Canada fundamentally reshaped […] Read more

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I was looking forward to hosting some of the country’s leading scholars and practitioners on administrative law for a day-long conference picking apart the implications of Vavilov for various areas of administrative decision-making. The event has been rescheduled for December 18. Please save the date! The title of the conference […] Read more

I am an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, where I hold the University Research Chair in Administrative Law & Governance. Educated in Ireland, the United States and the United Kingdom (where I also taught administrative law) before settling in Canada, I have developed a comparative perspective on judicial review of […] Read more

Here is the running order for this year’s Judicial Review Update (me and Justice Stratas of the Federal Court of Appeal). The event is online only. Sign up here. Vavilov, One Year On Statutory Appeals The Classification Game Yee v Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta, 2020 ABCA 98 Planet Energy (Ontario) Corp. v Ontario Energy […] Read more

As I find myself drafting the introductory chapter to the next edition of Administrative Law in Context, here are some thoughts on the evolution of administrative law… The advocates of the 20th century welfare state envisaged a government which would take care of its citizens from the cradle to the grave. The contemporary administrative state […] Read more

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Vavilov v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2019 SCC 65 made what seemed to be dramatic changes to the law relating to statutory appeals. Deference had previously come to reign supreme, even where an appeal to the courts from an administrative decision-maker had been provided by the legislature. Vavilov […] Read more