Introduction

Administrative justice agencies provide specialized forums for decision making and dispute resolution that are separate from the day-to-day operations of government ministries. Like the courts, administrative agencies are expected to be impartial and fair. As an alternative to the courts, they are also expected to be more accessible, less costly and more able to reach decisions in a timely and efficient manner.

Administrative agencies can, and indeed do, affect everyday life in profound ways. Individuals come face to face with administrative agencies when they seek access to public resources and programs. Individuals may also turn to administrative agencies for assistance in resolving disagreements with neighbours, tenants, landlords, co-workers or business associates.

While everyone has probably had some experience with at least one administrative agency in the course of everyday life, this part of the public sector, taken as a whole, is largely invisible because it operates through a host of separate organizations with different mandates that, on the surface at least, seem to have little in common.

In fact, there are more than 60 administrative justice agencies in British Columbia and they do have many interests and concerns in common. These agencies include the labour relations board, the human rights tribunal, the commercial appeals commission and the workers compensation board, to name just a few. Administrative agencies perform adjudicative or quasi-judicial functions and have at least one member appointed by the provincial Cabinet or a provincial Cabinet minister. A list of administrative agencies is included as Appendix 1.

Purpose

Over the course of many years, the provincial government, on behalf of the people of British Columbia, has made an enormous public investment in its system of administrative justice. As government embarks on a mandate to return the province to its full social and economic potential, it has determined that it is timely to carry out a thoughtful and comprehensive review of this system from a broad legal and policy perspective. At the very heart of this review are fundamental questions about the nature, quality and timeliness of the services that agencies can offer to people and their communities given the framework within which they operate.

The purposes of the Administrative Justice Project are to ensure that administrative agencies meet the needs of the people they serve, that their administrative processes are open and transparent, that their mandates are modern and relevant and that government fulfills its obligations by providing the legislative and policy framework administrative agencies require to carry out their independent mandates effectively. Project outcomes will be expected to foster greater public accountability and transparency, to enhance fairness and impartiality in decision-making and to facilitate public access, public service excellence and professionalism.

The Administrative Justice Project is central to government's commitment to the reform of British Columbia's public institutions and an integral component of government's overall core review. In this respect, government's core review of administrative justice agencies will proceed as part of and in tandem with the first phase of the Administrative Justice Project.

A healthy tension between government and its administrative agencies is expected. Although created by legislation, administrative agencies, once established, operate independently from government. This principle of separation is nowhere more important than when government itself appears before an adjudicative tribunal as a party in an administrative hearing. Accordingly, a comprehensive review of administrative justice is not about how particular administrative agencies carry out their individual responsibilities. Rather, the focus of this review is on the choices government can make in providing a strong legal and policy framework for the effective operation of independent administrative agencies.

These choices affect:

• the scope of work that administrative agencies are expected to carry out;
• the effectiveness and timeliness of an agency's rules and procedures for decision making, reviews and appeals; and
• the formal and informal mechanisms that have been put in place to ensure ongoing public accountability.

To this end, the Administrative Justice Project will provide government with recommendations for implementing:

• policies and procedures to improve public access, service delivery and the accountability of agencies; and
• legislative and regulatory measures to enhance the substantive and procedural tools that are available to administrative agencies to assist them in carrying out their mandates.

In proceeding with a comprehensive review of administrative justice at this time, government is initiating a process to ensure that agencies can fulfill their core responsibilities in the best possible way. This initiative is an essential component of government's overall commitment to excellence in public service. It is a bold initiative and the first of its kind in this province.

Guiding Principles

The work that is carried out as part of the Administrative Justice Project will be undertaken within the framework of the government's core review principles and the following guiding principles, namely that, in all of its endeavours, the provincial government is committed to fostering:

• Public accountability and transparency.
• Fair and impartial administrative practices and procedures.
• Timely, efficient and cost effective decisions and resolutions.
• Courteous and efficient service.
• Accessible programs that are easy to use and understand.
• Public service excellence and professionalism.

Objectives

In order to achieve its purposes within the framework of government's guiding principles, the Administrative Justice Project will address the following specific objectives, namely to:

1. Review the mandates of the province's administrative justice agencies to ensure they are relevant to a modern and efficient economy.
2. Make recommendations to government to eliminate overlapping jurisdictions, multiple proceedings, costs, delays and uncertain outcomes by evaluating dispute resolution institutions and mechanisms.
3. Make recommendations to government to streamline administrative procedures and reducing unnecessary overlap and duplication by examining substantive legal principles and practices with respect to standards of review for administrative agencies, including the use of privative clauses, evidentiary requirements and the grounds for and number and type of reviews and appeals.
4. Reassess government's role in the human rights area as an impartial adjudicator and advocate for complainants.
5. Introduce transparent policy guidelines for Cabinet and ministerial appointments to administrative agencies.
6. Create an informational data base on administrative agency reform in common law jurisdictions.
7. Define government's ongoing obligations to independent administrative agencies and establish a framework, process and guidelines for future institutional assessments.
8. Define government's ongoing obligations with respect to core competency and training programs for agency appointees.
9. Introduce performance measures and an accountability framework for administrative agencies, including recommendations for improving regional access to agency programs and services, where practicable.

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