What You Need To Know About Your "Legitimate Expectations" In A Fair Tribunal Procedure

Procedural fairness is at the heart of administrative decision-making.

One aspect of a fair tribunal process is that if a government actor makes a specific representation that a procedure will be followed, that promise is kept.

Since the Supreme Court of Canada's leading 1999 decision, Baker v. Canada, [1999] 2 S.C.R. 817, the doctrine of legitimate expectations protects a claimant's interest in a certain process being followed as a matter of procedural fairness.

But the doctrine is strictly limited. It creates procedural rights only and does not lead to substantive results. Moreover, the burden is on the claimant to prove a clear and unambiguous expectation that a specific process will be followed.