The future for administrative justice in British Columbia
by The Honourable Wally Oppal, QC
Attorney General and Minister Responsible for Multiculturalism

The Ministry of Attorney General, together with several partners (including the legal community), has embarked on a plan to ensure British Columbia’s justice system is more accessible, timely and cost effective. The plan is based on the concepts of early solutions and faster justice, to help individuals, families and businesses resolve disputes sooner.

While much has already been done to reform B.C.’s administrative justice system, the ministry, through its Administrative Justice Office, will continue to work with tribunals, other ministries and community partners to look for opportunities to provide earlier and fair resolution of administrative law issues.

The ministry’s five key strategies for justice transformation will also be applied in the administrative justice system, in consultation with other key participants. Those strategies are:

1. Prevention: Government will look for ways to minimize, avoid and resolve administrative law issues before they become disputes to be considered by a tribunal or another oversight body. For example, the Administrative Justice Office and the Dispute Resolution Office are working together to support greater use of dispute resolution, earlier in government’s processes and before matters are brought into the tribunal system.
2. Integration: Co-ordination and sharing of resources within the administrative justice system will be enhanced where possible, through exploring and supporting additional opportunities to build on existing co-location of tribunal registries, cross appointments and co-ordination of ministerial support to tribunals, with the aim of improved access to services.
3. Information: Accessible information, advice and guidance on how the administrative justice system works will be provided through the Administrative Justice Office’s website (www.gov.bc.ca/ajo/), with consideration also given to distributing information about tribunals through the proposed justice access centres.
4. Simplification: The Administrative Tribunals Act will continue to be used as a comprehensive, consistent framework so that tribunals can adopt streamlined processes, providing a timely, proportionate and more user-friendly alternative to the courts. Best practices for tribunal case management will be considered and tribunals will be encouraged to modify their rules as may be necessary. The ministry will also consider exploring opportunities for streamlined processes to reduce the complexity and lack of proportionality associated with judicial review proceedings.
5. Resolution: Tribunals will be encouraged to initiate or build on their dispute resolution processes to achieve early resolution so that adjudication is used only where no other option makes sense.

This article was published in the December 2007 issue of BarTalk. © 2007 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.