Question

What are the different types of Administrative Tribunals?

Answer 1

Employment tribunals.Immigration Services Tribunal.Lands Tribunal.Social Security & Child Support Commissioners.The Criminal Injuries and Compensation Appeals Panel.

Answer 2

Administrative tribunals are specialised governmental agencies established under federal or provincial legislation to implement legislative policy. Some public boards and public decision makers also have had powers of decision making conferred upon them by statute. Such powers of decision making are conferred upon administrative tribunals, boards or other decision makers in order to provide a more expeditious, less formal and sometimes less expensive method (than the courts) for resolving certain types of disputes or issues. Administrative tribunals also provide a forum in which complex issues can be decided by adjudicators with expertise in the particular field.

While most tribunals are required (by common law or statute) to follow some basic rules of procedure, there is no specific set of rules that applies universally. The procedure to be followed by a tribunal may be found in the enabling statute or related regulation and in rules, guidelines, or directives formulated by the tribunal. Procedures may also be set out in a notice issued for a particular proceeding or they may be a matter of unwritten tribunal policy or practice.1 Ontario, for instance, has enacted a minimum code of procedure in the Statutory Powers Procedure Act,2 which some tribunals are required to follow.

The fact that no procedural rules are prescribed does not free a tribunal, board, officer or public decision maker from all procedural constraints. When statutory decision makers perform a judicial or quasi-judicial decision making function, they are governed by common law procedural principles. The standard of procedural fairness to which a party before an administrative agency may be entitled will vary with the context.

In some cases, the seriousness of the potential impact of a decision on a party will require almost court-like procedures. In such cases, it is often said that the party to the administrative proceeding in question will be entitled to a decision in accordance with the principles of natural justice.