Giving Directions to Administrative Decision-Makers (for Self-Represented Litigants): Bernard v. Canada (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 13

Bernard v. Canada (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 13 represents the end of a long struggle for Ms. Bernard, an employee of the Canadian revenue service who challenged -- without counsel -- her employer's ability to send her personal contact details to a union. A decision ordering disclosure was ultimately upheld as reasonable and constitutional but there was an interesting divergence of views on the Supreme Court of Canada about the jurisdiction of an administrative decision-maker to which a matter has been remitted with directions.

Self-Represented Litigants and Administrative Tribunals

We know that administrative tribunals have plenty of scope to design their own procedures, which need not resemble those of a regular court. But there are limits, as the Québec Court of Appeal recently explained in a case involving a real estate agent who represented himself -- unsuccessfully -- at a disciplinary hearing.