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Independence After Matsqui?, Richard Haigh, Jim Smith

Articles & Book Chapters

The authors look at the Supreme Court's latest fully reasoned decision on independence in Canadian Pacific v. Matsqui, where native tribunals were found to be biased because of certain institutional characteristics. The authors argue that the court employs, on the one hand, a very simplified analysis of independence, but at the same time, sets standards for testing independence and bias in tribunals that are impossible to adequately quantify in practice. Neither the reasoning of Lamer C.J, nor Sopinka J. is adequate to address the full range of tribunal experience; in fact, the Supreme Court examines administrative tribunals as if they …