Case information

Charter of Rights — Right to equality — Discrimination based on age — Administrative law — Judicial review — Employment law — Applicant screened out of staffing process for not meeting minimum education requirement — Applicant claimed discrimination based on age — Federal Court dismissing application for judicial review — Federal Court of Appeal dismissing appeal — Whether courts can accept implicit reasons in lieu of the explicit, transparent, intelligible and justified reasons required under Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, [2019] 4 S.C.R. 653.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Mr. Priest was employed by the Canada Revenue Agency and was screened out of a staffing process for a higher position on the basis that he did not meet the minimum education requirement. He challenged the decision and claimed that he had been treated arbitrarily on the basis that the education requirement discriminated against him based on his age. Mr. Priest’s challenge was dismissed by a manager, but that decision was set aside on judicial review and remitted to the Canada Revenue Agency for reconsideration. The second decision concluded that Mr. Priest had not been treated arbitrarily in the assessment of education credentials and the education requirement did not discriminate based on age.

The application judge dismissed Mr. Priest’s judicial review application regarding the second decision, holding the decision was both reasonable and procedurally fair. The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no error in the way the application judge applied the standards of review.