Human Rights - OLST

The respondent lawyer brought a motion to dismiss conduct and capacity applications issued against her by the Law Society, alleging abuse of process, bias, discrimination, and prosecutorial misconduct.

She claimed that the Law Society, its investigators, counsel, and Tribunal adjudicators discriminated against her as an Indigenous Christian woman and infringed her Charter right to freedom of religion.

The Tribunal reviewed the extensive evidentiary record and found no evidence to support the allegations of bias, discrimination, or improper motives.

The Tribunal concluded that the respondent failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination or any conduct amounting to an abuse of process, and dismissed the motion.

The Law Society brought a capacity application alleging the respondent lawyer was incapacitated between 2014 and 2019 due to a mental illness.

The respondent, an Indigenous woman and registered nurse, contested the application, arguing she was never incapacitated, her religious expressions were misinterpreted as delusions, and the psychiatric assessments were tainted by systemic racism.

The Tribunal accepted the expert psychiatric evidence that the respondent suffered from a lifelong mental illness that rendered her incapacitated during the relevant period, but found she has been in remission since 2019 due to adherence to a treatment plan.

The Tribunal ordered a three-year return-to-practice plan under s. 40 of the Law Society Act, requiring the respondent to remain under the care of a treating regulated professional and provide annual compliance reports, finding this to be the least restrictive accommodation necessary to protect the public.

Following a finding that the paralegal was incapacitated due to a substance use disorder and borderline personality disorder, the Law Society Tribunal determined the terms of a capacity order.

The Tribunal rejected the paralegal's arguments against employment restrictions, finding that protection of the public required him to provide legal services only as an employee under supervision.

The Tribunal also mandated ongoing treatment, including dialectical behaviour therapy, and unannounced substance use testing, while accommodating his disability to the point of undue hardship.