CLEBC’s Self-governing Professions will take place on June 9, 2021. Leading up to the conference, we will be blogging on topics that presenters will cover at the conference. Session Three will be “Top Cases”, which will be co-presented by Graeme Keirstead.
Graeme Keirstead’s presentation will include the regulatory challenges of unauthorized practice, and the multiple contempt orders that his college had to obtain against two “doctors” (they were not!) unlawfully injecting Botox and dermal fillers into clients. The breaches of the court’s contempt orders eventually resulted in jail time for both offenders. Graeme will also address the companion issue of unauthorized use of professional titles and the BC Court of Appeal’s decision in College of Midwives of BC v. MaryMoon, where the Court of Appeal considered the BC Health Professions Act’s title protection provisions and whether a prohibition on the use of “death midwife” to describe health-related “work” was constitutionally overbroad (and for example, prohibited the use of such “titles” as “tree doctors”). Graeme will also discuss Abrametz v. Law Society of Saskatchewan, decided by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal) which raises concerns for many regulators about how delay may be counted, and what such delay means to regulatory authorities. For example, in practice, hearing dates are set based on the availability of the parties and the hearing panel. So why should any part of that period count towards unfair delay? The Supreme Court of Canada has granted leave to hear an appeal of that important case.
Graeme Keirstead is the Chief Legal Officer and the Deputy Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. And because there are 24 hours in a day, Graeme is also completing his Masters’ degree in health law at Osgood Hall Law School, and training his two adorable corgis to compete in the PNE’s Dog Days of Summer corgi races.
Come join us! The agenda and registration for the course is available here: Self-Governing Professions 2021 (CLE)