Enniael Stair

The appellant, a registered massage therapist, appealed a decision of the Discipline Committee finding him guilty of professional misconduct for sexual abuse of a client.

The Divisional Court found that the Committee made a palpable and overriding error in its credibility assessment of the complainant.

Although the Committee rejected the complainant's allegation that the appellant touched her vagina because her evidence was inconsistent and implausible, it failed to consider how these adverse findings affected her overall reliability regarding the other allegations.

The appeal was granted, the finding of professional misconduct was set aside, and the court declined to remit the matter for a re-hearing.

The applicant, a dentist facing disciplinary proceedings before the Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee (ICRC) regarding allegations of sexual abuse, brought an application for judicial review seeking mandamus to compel the College to obtain an unredacted copy of a police file.

The Divisional Court dismissed the application as premature.

The court found that the administrative proceeding was not complete, as the ICRC had not yet made its decision and the applicant still had the opportunity to make submissions to the ICRC regarding the need for the unredacted documents.

The court concluded there were no exceptional circumstances to justify interfering in the ongoing administrative process.