The appellants challenged judgments that had found constitutional defects in the institutional structure of a liquor licensing tribunal after it revoked the respondent's liquor permits for disturbance of public tranquility.
The majority held that the permit cancellation process was quasi-judicial and attracted the protections of s. 23 of Quebec's Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, but concluded the defect lay in the tribunal's operations rather than in the enabling legislation itself.
The court found a reasonable apprehension of institutional bias because the tribunal's lawyers and directors could participate at multiple stages from investigation and file preparation to advocacy and adjudication without sufficient separation of functions.
Although the tribunal's security of tenure and institutional independence were adequate, its failure to ensure impartiality required the impugned revocation decision to be quashed.
The appeal was allowed only to the extent that no statutory invalidity declaration was necessary, while the respondent retained the remedy setting aside the tribunal's decision.
