From social benefits to correctional services, labour disputes to energy regulation, administrative boards and tribunals are everywhere.
These public and quasi-public agencies administer, process, enforce, regulate, investigate, adjudicate and supervise. Individuals challenge them if they are refused a license and may seek them out if they are injured at work or discriminated against. Administrative bodies are an integral and important part of the public system. They’re also at times inefficient, backlogged and under-funded. Regardless of the conditions under which they operate, administrative boards and tribunals executing a public duty are expected to do so in a procedurally fair manner.
The dictates of procedural fairness and in particular the right to be heard, have and continue to evolve in light of legislation, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the common law. This paper will explore and contextualize the developing scope of the right to be heard as it applies to tribunals and other administrative bodies in the province of Ontario by canvassing a sampling of recent judicial review cases in which the reviewing Court found a breach of the right to be heard by the administrative body.
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