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Understanding the Legal Framework That Governs Administrative Hearings
David A. Wright
Interim Chair, Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario

• What is fair?
  - elements and scope of the duty of procedural fairness in relation to hearings
  - is efficiency one aspect of fairness?
  - is the content of the duty of fairness different in arbitrations? In written hearings?
• Sources of fairness doctrine
  - leading cases you should know about
  - rules of procedure of the tribunal
  - the statute that creates your tribunal
  - statutes of general application such as Ontario’s SPPA
  - rules of evidence
• What does the right to be heard mean in practice and at law, in the tribunal context?
  - notice
  - disclosure and knowing the case to be answered
  - requirements applying to oral hearings
  - fairness regarding evidence and submissions
• The rules of evidence: how far do they apply?
• The intersection between a tribunal’s rules and the duty of fairness
• The appropriate role of tribunal staff and counsel at and in preparation for a hearing
  - should staff experts be sitting through hearings?
  - can or should you make them a party?
  - counsel vs. prosecutors/investigators
• How pro-active can and should the tribunal be?
  - what are the legal limits?
  - the adjudicator as inquisitor: how many questions can you ask, and of what kind?
  - inquisitorial vs. adversarial processes
  - the adjudicator as mediator: what are the benefits and dangers, where the panel is both determining and resolving a dispute?
  - ethical and legal implications of the interventionist tribunal
• Addressing fairness challenges
• When will failures of procedural fairness lead to an unfavourable result on judicial review?