Lawyers Weekly Article on Expansion of Administrative Tribunals' Charter Powers

The most issue of The Lawyers Weekly features an article on the Supreme Court of Canada's June 11, 2010 R. v. Conway ruling. (The ruling can be found on the LexUM website).

The ruling greatly simplified the procedure for determining whether administrative boards or tribunals are to be considered courts of competent jurisdiction with the power to grant remedies under s. 24(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

"Justice Rosalie Abella’s June 11 ruling in R. v. Conway is a must-read for administrative law practitioners because its effect may be to extend Charter powers to a significant, but as yet unknown, number of administrative boards and tribunals which currently claim they don’t (or have been held by courts not to) have jurisdiction to resolve constitutional issues, including granting Charter remedies (...)"

"Toronto’s Marlys Edwardh told The Lawyers Weekly the decision will enable people to use the Charter to obtain remedies from administrative boards and tribunals that are not expressly barred by the relevant statutory schemes."

"It will 'open up Charter relief in many kinds of administrative tribunals which have not had it, or not exercised it,' predicted Edwardh, counsel for Paul Conway, the appellant who unsuccessfully sought Charter remedies from the Ontario Review Board."

"Whatever its future fallout, Conway certainly is a clear and succinct primer on the past 25 years of intense judicial debate at the Supreme Court about the scope of Charter jurisdiction of administrative boards and tribunals."