A Caution From The Supreme Court Of Canada On Institutional Delay: Lessons From Abrametz

In a much anticipated decision, the Supreme Court of Canada released its reasons in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Abrametz last week - confirming that obtaining a stay for inordinate delay in administrative proceedings is a very high bar to meet.¹

Justice Rowe, writing for a majority of the Supreme Court, confirmed that the Blencoe test² remains the legal framework for establishing an abuse of process arising from delay that would justify a remedy of a stay - which is essentially an order made by the tribunal bringing the proceedings to an end without adjudicating the merits. As was discussed in a previous blog post,³ prior to this decision there had been some rumblings in the legal community and elsewhere that, due to institutional delays, the Supreme Court of Canada should adopt a more stringent timetable for the completion of administrative proceedings - as was done in criminal matters following the Court's decision in R. v. Jordan.⁴