I. Course Overview
Administrative agencies are a significant part of government. They make decisions that impact all of us in diverse areas such as immigration, human rights, communications, social benefits, environmental protection, labor relations, access to natural resources, freedom of information, licensing, municipal governments, First Nations governments, and others. Administrative law principles apply to guide decision-making within these governmental bodies as well as to the review of the legality and constitutionality of their decisions by courts.
The wide application of administrative law principles makes this a foundational course for the study of other areas of public law and regulation. Following an introduction to administrative law and tribunals and public law remedies, the course will examine the constraints on and judicial oversight of administrative decision-makers. The course focusses on the two main types of grounds upon which an affected individual or group may seek judicial intervention in the decisions of administrative decision-makers: procedural and substantive. Procedural review encompasses the doctrine of procedural fairness (individual’s procedural rights before administrative decision-makers), individuals’ rights to unbiased and independent decision-makers, and the Crown’s obligation to consult Aboriginal peoples. Substantive review involves review of the legality (and constitutionality) of the substance of administrative decisions by courts, as filtered through the standard of review analysis. Lastly, we will examine the relationship between constitutional and administrative law in administrative contexts, and other topics as time permits.
II. Calendar Description
Students are introduced to the general structure of administrative decision-making in Canada: how public administrators obtain power and how that power is exercised both at the level of individual adjudication and at the level of the establishment of public policy. This course also introduces the checks which courts place on the exercise of administrative power. Students discuss the procedures that courts require of administrative agencies and public officials as well as the substantive grounds on which courts may review the decisions of administrative agencies and public officials.
- Teacher: Jonathan Festinger, Q.C.