RCMP |
Flood v. Canada (Attorney General)
T-1115-00
2001 FCT 878, Dawson J.
13/8/01
15 pp.
Application for judicial review of Level II adjudicator's decision denying applicant's grievance for lack of standing--Whether applicant person "aggrieved" by Performance Report for Promotion process so as to have standing under RCMP Act, s. 31(1) to present grievance--In December 1997, new promotion process implemented by RCMP requiring members seeking promotion to complete Performance Report for Promotion (PRP) based on eight areas of core competencies said to be common to all positions in Force--Applicant participated in process, complained of two specific errors in PRP process--Asserted errors resulted in inability to compete on fair basis with other participants outside Depot Division--Level II adjudicator denying applicant's grievance for lack of standing--Requirement of standing in order to advance grievance found in Act, s. 31(1)--Pragmatic, functional analysis resorted to for determining standard of review requiring consideration of following factors: existence of privative provision, expertise of decision-maker, purpose of Act as whole, specific provision in particular, nature of problem--Application of factors to decision under review leading Court to conclude applicable standard of review one of correctness--Grievor must demonstrate standing--Standing should not be inferred if insufficient grounds to demonstrate it--Level II adjudicator did not err in concluding applicant lacked standing to pursue grievance--Adjudicator correctly noted two grounds of complaint were systemic bias against non-operational members, lack of standardization--Member provided no evidence of personal aggrievement, failed to relate alleged errors to own prejudice--Adjudicator not testing merits of grievance, but looking for allegations particularizing impact on member--Statistical analysis by itself not demonstrating particular error with respect to applicant's PRP--No errors specific to PRP alleged in grievance--Grievance silent as to whether PRB raised, lowered, left unchanged applicant's supervisor's recommended rating--Adjudicator correctly concluded grievance did not meet requirements of Act, s. 31(1)--Not obliged to consider whether grievance filed out of time--Application dismissed--Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. R-10, s. 31 (as am. by R.S.C., 1985 (2nd Supp.), c. 8, s. 16; S.C. 1994, c. 26, s. 63(F)).