BC Veterinarians: Your Questions about CVBC Discipline Answered

If you are a BC veterinarian or a certified veterinary technician facing potential disciplinary action with the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia (the “CVBC” or the “College”), you would likely have many questions regarding the potential consequences and the procedures involved. You would also want to know how to protect your rights and defend your professional reputation and livelihood against a complaint. You would also have similar questions if the CVBC has made an unfair licensing decision against you.

This article provides essential information to help you get informed when navigating these challenging situations. With your professional future hanging in the balance, you need to act promptly. Our strong recommendation is that you should consult a lawyer to have a more in-depth discussion of your case.

Taylor Janis Workplace Law has experienced lawyers based in Vancouver and Kamloops and offers regulatory action legal services to professionals in all areas of BC. Please do not hesitate to contact us today to schedule an initial consultation.

What Are The Potential Consequences?

The CVBC Has Legally Binding Powers

Under the BC Veterinarians Act (the “Act”), the College of Veterinarians of British Columbia is the regulatory college for the practice of veterinary medicine. The Act tasks the College to maintain and monitor the ethical, professionalism, and competence standards of veterinarians and certified veterinary technicians (“CVTs”). Thus, the College also has broad regulatory powers and discretion in making legally binding disciplinary, registration and certification decisions.

Under the Act, the types of conduct that may attract regulatory scrutiny are broad and include the following:

• Non-compliance with the Act or the CVBC Bylaws (the “Bylaws”);
• Non-compliance with applicable standards, restrictions or conditions;
• Professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a veterinarian/ CVT;
• Incompetent practice of veterinary medicine; and
• Incapacity to practice veterinary medicine.

Notably, conduct outside of your practice can attract discipline, as conduct unbecoming a veterinarian/ CVT is disciplinable, and the College’s Code of Ethics prohibits a registrant from extra-professional activities that disrepute the veterinary profession’s integrity and competence.

The Consequences Can Be Career-Threatening

If the CVBC Discipline Committee makes an adverse disciplinary finding against a veterinarian or certified veterinary technician, it may order one or more of the following:

• A reprimand;
• Imposition of limits or conditions on their practice;
• Suspension of practice;
• Suspension or cancellation of registration/ certification; and
• A fine of up to $50,000.

In addition, the Discipline Committee may also order the recovery of certain costs related to the investigation and discipline hearing.

Being disciplined can have direct consequences on your finances and practice, and severe discipline measures can threaten your professional standing and ability to practice veterinary medicine. Moreover, once a disciplinary order has been made, the CVBC Registrar must monitor its enforcement and compliance, and non-compliance may attract further legal liabilities such as further discipline or court sanctions.

Furthermore, being disciplined can have long-term and career-threatening reputational effects, as disciplinary orders must be put on public notice under the Act. A record of being disciplined not only affects a veterinary professional’s reputation among their clients and peers, but it may also affect their ability to register with regulators in other provinces, thus having severe and long-lasting impacts on their career.

Assess and Mitigate Risks Under Legal Advice

A severe disciplinary measure can directly put your professional standing on the line, and even a seemingly lesser measure (such as a restriction) can be highly disruptive to your career, practice and reputation. You should obtain legal advice if you are facing the College’s disciplinary scrutiny, even if the matter is seemingly trivial or unfounded, as the risks need to be properly assessed and mitigated. Do not hesitate to contact Taylor Janis Workplace Law for a consultation if you are facing regulatory challenges.

What Should I Expect in Terms of Disciplinary Procedures?

About Complaints

The first thing to know about the disciplinary process is that disciplinary actions can arise without a complaint, and complaints do not necessarily need to arise out of a veterinarian-client-patient relationship. Under the Act, any person can file a complaint with the CVBC. Moreover, the CVBC Investigation Committee can, on its own initiative, start an investigation if it believes a veterinarian or CVT has committed disciplinary conduct, thus starting a disciplinary process.

The second important thing to know is that once the CVBC receives a complaint, it must be referred to the Investigation Committee, unless the complaint is determined to be trivial, frivolous, vexatious, baseless, for an improper purpose, already resolved, or outside of the College’s jurisdiction. Hence, you should act promptly and seek legal opinions once a complaint has been levied against you.

About Investigations

The Investigation Committee must investigate a matter referred to it unless it is dismissed on grounds similar to the ones mentioned above.

An investigation can be highly disruptive to your practice or personal life, as the investigator has broad investigative powers and may:

• Inspect and premises, equipment and materials used for your practice;
  • An investigator may access your computers for the purpose of examining relevant data during an inspection.
• Request and retain information and records related to your practice; and
• Observe and make visual and audio records of you practicing.

Moreover, an investigator can apply for a court order to expand their investigative powers to inspect other premises and seize other types of evidence. During an investigation, the CVBC may impose limits or conditions on your practice or even suspend your registration as an extraordinary action to protect the public interest.

An investigation can be intimidating and highly consequential: during an investigation (and the entire disciplinary process), you are obliged to cooperate fully, but also need to be careful not to inadvertently jeopardize your own case, which highlights the importance of early legal representation.

About Discipline Committee Hearings

Unresolved complaints will be referred to the Discipline Committee for a hearing via a published citation. A hearing can be intensely stressful and complex for you to navigate alone. This is for a few reasons:

• A hearing is quasi-judicial and adversarial:
  • The parties (the College vs. You) both have a statutory right to legal representation. A complainant may also have their lawyer with them if they are giving evidence.
  • A hearing is based on a court-like adversarial system, meaning the decisions are based on the relative strength of the parties’ factual and legal positions, hence requiring extensive preparation and strategic planning.
• A hearing has profound reputational effects:
  • Hearings are presumptively open to the public. Therefore, severe reputational harm may occur even before a decision is made, and you should take extra care not to prejudice yourself during a hearing.
• You may be ordered to testify under oath:
  • If you testify, you may be subject to examination and be intensely scrutinized with questions. Awareness of common pitfalls and preparedness is key.
  • Failure to cooperate may result in severe legal consequences.
• The preparation has to be done under intense time limits:
  • Under the Act, a hearing citation can be given as late as 30 days before the date of the hearing, and the date, time and place of a hearing can have as little as 14 days’ notice.

If a complaint against you has escalated into a pending hearing, the benefit of exercising your statutory right to counsel becomes eminently clear. However, the preferred approach is a proactive one: engage legal representation early so you can be well-informed and well-prepared for any impending procedure.

Alternative Resolutions

A complaint may be resolved without going through the entire disciplinary process through alternative resolution processes, which can be advantageous in certain situations. However, you should not make a hasty decision without legal advice.

• During an investigation, the Investigation Committee may request you to consent to a reprimand or to undertake (a binding promise) certain actions (known as a reprimand or remedial action by consent).
• Before a hearing reaches a final discipline decision, you can propose to the CVBC for a consent order by admitting to certain alleged facts and proposing discipline orders against you. This proposal may or may not be accepted.

However, you should approach alternative resolutions carefully and strategically, with sound legal advice, because:

• An undertaking is legally binding, so before you consent to a remedial action, you should comprehensively review whether it is fair and reasonable to you, taking into consideration all the legal and factual factors.
• A consent order requires admission to the alleged facts, which will substantially foreclose the possibility of appealing an erroneous factual finding.
• An alternative resolution can result in severe reputational damage, as a consent order or an undertaking as a remedial action by consent must be put on public notice.

Your lawyer is not only your advocate: they are also problem solvers. They can leverage their legal knowledge to strategically analyze the situations for you, so that you can make informed strategic decisions.

The Value of Early Legal Representation

You should not leave legal representation until the last minute before a hearing. Instead, you should be proactive if you are under the CVBC’s regulatory scrutiny.

Even the early stages of a disciplinary process can be highly disruptive and may result in severe repercussions. Throughout the entire process, you have a need to respond strategically whilst avoiding legal pitfalls. To have your lawyer engaged with the process at an early stage means they can navigate you through the procedural complexity and help you make informed decisions. Moreover, a robust early response may reduce the length of the process, thus minimizing the disruptive effects.

You should not risk it alone through the complexity of CVBC disciplinary procedures. Contact Taylor Janis Workplace Law today if you have any concerns about an ongoing or impending disciplinary procedure.

How Do I Defend Myself?

Responding to and defending against a complaint effectively is not an easy task. One must be strategically minded and structure a robust response consisting of applicable legal authorities and relevant facts, and skillful advocacy can be crucial for this. Below are a few key insights from a recent CVBC discipline decision dated August 28, 2024. (CVBC File: 20-105(b)).

In this decision, a veterinarian was found to have markedly failed to meet the appropriate standards for his inappropriate prescription and administration of antibiotics. He was also found to have breached the Bylaw’s record-keeping standards. As a result, the disciplinary measures levied against him include reprimand, temporary suspension of practice, and a requirement to participate in a continuing education program. He was also ordered to pay the College costs of over $40,000. The decision on consequences and costs was made on December 20, 2024, after a separate hearing.

The Discipline Committee can and Often Have to Consider A Wide Range of Legal Authorities

In addition to the Act, the Bylaws and applicable CVBC standards, the Discipline Committee can and often have to consider a wide range of additional legal authorities in reaching a verdict; these can include common law cases, legislation other than the Act, and even authoritative legal commentaries. This means extensive legal knowledge and research are often necessary for a robust legal defence.

In this particular case, the Discipline Committee considered a series of BC legislation, including the Family Law Act, the Infants Act and the Age of Majority Act, to reach the conclusion that a minor can be a complainant. The Discipline Committee also considered a common law case, R. v. Wigglesworth, to conclude that the type of professional regulatory sanction does not attract the protection of s.11 of the Charter, and hence the applicable standard of proof is a balance of probability. It further cited The Regulation of Professions in Canada, an academic legal commentary and several common law cases referenced therein to dispel the respondent veterinarian’s claim that a standard of practice must be made into the Bylaws to become legally binding. Furthermore, a regulatory decision made by the Law Society of British Columbia was referenced to support that a marked departure from the competence standard can be a type of professional misconduct.

This CVBC disciplinary decision clearly showcased that the length and depth the Discipline Committee will go in terms of legal analysis. Therefore, when you are preparing a response or defence to a regulatory action, you should be prepared to put serious effort into correctly citing and interpreting a wealth of legal authorities. This could prove to be extremely challenging if you are not represented by counsel.

The Facts Are Assessed on the Relative Strength of the Evidence

A disciplinary decision ultimately needs to be based on facts, specifically, facts that can be substantiated with evidence. Given that the facts underlying complaints are often intensely contentious, it is often necessary to substantiate a factual defence with reliable evidence and skillfully showcase its factual relevance and legal materiality.

In this decision, there were several distinct allegations of misconduct against the respondent veterinarian, and he was able to successfully defend against two of them. In reaching its factual findings, the Discipline Committee meticulously analyzed available records and the testimonies from both parties’ witnesses. In particular, it placed much weight on the expert witnesses’ opinions.

This decision showcased that the relative strength of competing evidence is the ultimate basis for factual findings.

When preparing a factual defence, you need to bear in mind that pieces of evidence are not equal in reliability, relevance and materiality. Your legal counsel can leverage their training and skills to highlight key favourable evidence and flag competing evidence that is unreliable, irrelevant or unduly prejudicial to you.

Advocacy

A lawyer, as your advocate, can do more than assist you in preparing robust legal and factual defences. An advocate can also clarify complex issues and highlight important hidden factors, thus assisting in delivering a fair verdict.

In this decision, the credibility of the witnesses was engaged. The College’s counsel provided common law precedents to clarify the appropriate legal methodologies for assessing witness credibility and reliability, which were central to the fact-finding process. A skillful advocate can do more than answer these types of legal questions, however. An advocate can also highlight factual or legal factors that would otherwise be overlooked by an adjudicator or help them zoom in on key issues. This can be especially important when principled analysis or competing public interests are engaged.

Legal Representation is Highly Recommended

This decision highlights that defending against a complaint is not just about dispelling a complaint with your version of facts. By contrast, a robust and strategic defence often requires legal expertise, extensive evidence preparation and skillful advocacy.

Hence, legal representation is instrumental in delivering a favourable outcome. A robust response can do more than deliver a favourable hearing verdict: it may also dispel a complaint at an earlier stage of the disciplinary process. Therefore, early legal representation is strongly recommended, and you should not leave it until a hearing is scheduled.

How Do I Protect My Rights?

Your Rights (In Broad Terms)

The CVBC has broad statutory discretion in making disciplinary, registration, and certification decisions, but it cannot make such decisions arbitrarily without any constraints. One of the restraints is your administrative law and common law rights, some of these rights even have constitutional gravity.

Administrative law rights can be an intricate and nuanced matter. But for informational purposes, you have three distinct rights:

• The right to an unbiased decision maker
  • The decision maker should not give a “reasonable apprehension of bias” to a reasonably informed third person observing the entire decision-making process.
  • Reasonable apprehension of bias is a high legal threshold which must be supported with a strong legal and evidentiary basis.
• The right to procedural fairness
  • This is about due process: you have the right to know the case against you and provide a full answer and defence.
  • The decision-making process must be done in accordance with your procedural entitlements under the Act and the Bylaws, but even correctly chosen procedures can be conducted unfairly. Hence, in-depth analysis is often required for identifying infringements of procedural rights.
• The right to substantive fairness
  • This means a CVBC decision and its factual and legal reasoning must meet certain standards.
  • Under the Act, a CVBC disciplinary, registration or certification decision can be appealed to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, where the substantive fairness of a CVBC decision is subject to the appellate review standard as if it were made by a lower court (Vavilov)
  • The standards are no “palpable and overriding factual error” and “correct” legal reasoning. These standards were confirmed in Housen, a Supreme Court of Canada Decision.

In addition, if you think CVBC has treated you unfairly because of discrimination against a protected characteristic under the BC Human Rights Code, you can potentially seek redress through a BC Human Rights Council Claim.

Protecting Your Rights

The preferred approach to safeguarding your rights is to retain skilled legal counsel early and have them engaged with the entire decision-making process. Here is why:

• Your rights are ultimately about fairness and are often essential to achieving fair outcomes.
• Your rights are engaged by and embedded within the procedures. The best way to safeguard your rights is to have a keen-eyed advocate on your side who can spot, flag and object to potential infringements as they arise.
• It is a monumental task to overturn a decision once it is made, and irreversible damage may continue to occur during the appeal process.

Appealing a Decision

If you have received an unfair CVBC discipline, registration or certification decision, you can seek judicial remedy by filing a petition to the BC Supreme Court within 30 days of receiving the decision. However, an appeal should be considered a last resort, because:

• An appeal is a highly complex and challenging process. An Appeal is not a rehearing of the original matter. Usually, only records of the impugned CVBC decision will be admitted as evidence. Moreover, the appellate standards, as discussed above, are very high.
• Courts are required to pay deference to regulatory decision makers. This is required under common law out of respect for legislative intent, as iterated in the landmark SCC case Vavilov.
• Damage from a discipline decision may continue to occur. This is because an appeal does not automatically stay (pause) the enforcement of discipline. In addition, a successful appeal may send the matter to be re-determined by the CVBC. During these, irreversible damage, especially reputational damage, may continue to occur.

The Importance of Early and Ongoing Legal Support

When undergoing a CVBC disciplinary action, your rights are critical for a fair outcome. To safeguard your rights, you should enlist the help of a lawyer early and have them engaged with the entire disciplinary process. You should not delay legal representation until an infringement has already resulted in an unfair decision.

Whether you are facing a regulatory action or thinking about appealing a CVBC decision, you can entrust Taylor Janis to provide you with thorough and reliable legal support.

Seeking Legal Representation

The experienced and skilled lawyers at Taylor Janis are dedicated to helping professionals in BC defend their careers and reputation.

We offer thorough legal support tailored to your specific needs, providing strategic legal counsel at all stages of a disciplinary process. We will provide transparent legal advice and risk assessment if you are unsure about the risks, and provide thorough legal representation if you are expecting an investigation or hearing. We can also represent you in appealing a disciplinary or licensing decision.

Every case is different. To guarantee you receive tailored legal support, contact one of Taylor Janis’s BC offices in Vancouver or Kamloops to schedule an initial consultation to discuss your situation.

(Other) Frequently Asked Questions

How Long Does a Typical CVBC Disciplinary Process Take to Resolve?

This will vary greatly depending on many factors, including the factual and legal complexity and merit of the case, as well as how you respond to the situation. An unfounded complaint will likely be dismissed fairly quickly, but if a complaint escalates into an investigation or hearing, the process can take a few months to over a year to resolve. The process can be especially long if the case is complex or the encounters too many procedural issues. On the other hand, an early and effective response can discourage frivolous or vexatious complaints and thus significantly reduce the overall length of the process. If you have concerns about the disruptive effects of the disciplinary process, engage legal representation to streamline the process where possible and reasonable.

Is the Disciplinary Process the Same For a Certified Veterinary Technician and a Veterinarian?

The disciplinary process and the disciplinary measures available to the CVBC are largely the same regardless of whether the matter concerns a veterinarian or a CVT. This is because S.69 of the Act provides that Part 4 — Inspections, Complaints, Investigations and Discipline of the Act applies equally to a CVT and a veterinarian, and for discipline purposes, a CVT’s certification can be suspended, cancelled or have restrictions or conditions placed thereupon. If you are a certified veterinary technician, rest assured that Taylor Janis understands the importance of protecting your career and is well-equipped to assist you through regulatory challenges.

I Am No Longer Registered with/ Certified by the CVBC. Should I Still Be Concerned about a Complaint Filed Against Me?

By the operation of the Parts 1 and S.69 of the Act, for disciplinary purposes, the definition of registrants include a veterinarian formerly registered with the CVBC and a CVT formerly certified by the CVBC, so you may still be disciplined by the College if you are under its scrutiny. Critically, if you are currently practicing outside of BC, you might need to disclose your discipline records to your current regulator, and this might affect your professional standing. Plus, you still need to consider the potential reputational implications. Hence, even if you are no longer practicing in BC, it is still highly advisable that you obtain legal advice.

Can I Represent Myself During a CVBC Disciplinary Hearing?

You can represent yourself, but it is highly advisable not to. Remember, at the hearing, it is you against the College, and it will most likely be represented by a lawyer. Our strongest recommendation is that you should level the playing field by exercising your statutory right to counsel. A lawyer can not only advocate for you at a hearing, but also assist you in navigating the pre-hearing procedures. Legal assistance can drastically reduce the level of stress, so that you can stay focused on your veterinary practice.

Can I Continue Working During a Disciplinary Process?

If your registration/certification is valid, and the CVBC did not place any conditions or restrictions on your practice, you can continue to practice. Otherwise, you have to strictly abide by the CVBC’s direction to cease practicing or observe the conditions or restrictions. Non-compliance can result in further and severe legal consequences. If you think an interim decision against you is unfair, you should consult a lawyer to assist you in lifting it.

Conclusion

The CVBC has statutory regulatory powers to make legally binding disciplinary decisions against BC veterinarians and certified veterinary technicians, and its disciplinary measures can have career-threatening effects and deep reputational implications. The CVBC’s disciplinary procedures can be highly disruptive to a veterinary practice, and navigating them is challenging. A robust and strategically sound defence requires legal know-how, and so does safeguarding your rights when undergoing regulatory procedures. When facing an impending or ongoing CVBC regulatory action, it is strongly recommended that you seek legal assistance early on.

References:

• Veterinarians Act [SBC 2010] CHAPTER 15
• Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 (CanLII), [2019] 4 SCR 653
• Housen v. Nikolaisen, 2002 SCC 33 (CanLII), [2002] 2 SCR 235
• College of Veterinarians of British Columbia Bylaws
• CVBC v. Chaudhry 20-105(b)
• CVBC v. Chaudhry 20-105(b), Ruling on Penalty and Costs

Resources for Readers:

• BC Human Rights Council’s publication about a human rights claim against the CVBC
• Standards of Practice and other published standards of the CVBC

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