Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act (S.C. 1995, c. 18)

Marginal note:Inquiries

• 42 (1) The Chairperson may recommend to the Minister that an inquiry be held to determine whether a member should be subject to disciplinary or remedial measures for any reason set out in any of paragraphs 43(2)(a) to (d).

• Marginal note:Judge to conduct inquiry

  (2) If the Minister considers it appropriate that an inquiry be held, a judge, supernumerary judge or former judge of the Federal Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal or the Federal Court, in this section and section 43 referred to as a “judge”, shall conduct the inquiry.

• Marginal note:Powers

  (3) A judge conducting an inquiry has all the powers, rights and privileges that are vested in a superior court and, without restricting the generality of the foregoing, has the power

  • (a) to issue to any person a summons requiring them to appear at the time and place mentioned in the summons to testify with respect to all matters within their knowledge relative to the inquiry and to bring and produce any thing that they have or control relative to the inquiry; and

  • (b) to administer oaths and examine any person on oath.

• Marginal note:Inquiry public

  (4) Subject to subsections (5) and (6), an inquiry shall be conducted in public.

• Marginal note:Confidentiality

  (5) A judge conducting an inquiry may, on application, take any measures or make any order that the judge considers necessary to ensure the confidentiality of the inquiry if the judge is satisfied that financial or personal or other matters may be disclosed and are of such a nature that the desirability of avoiding public disclosure of those matters in the interest of any person affected or in the public interest outweighs the desirability of adhering to the principle that the inquiry be conducted in public.

• Marginal note:Confidentiality

  (6) Where the judge considers it appropriate to do so, the judge may take any measures or make any order that the judge considers necessary to ensure the confidentiality of any hearing held in respect of an application referred to in subsection (5).

• Marginal note:Rules of evidence

  (7) A judge conducting an inquiry is not bound by any legal or technical rules of evidence and, in any proceedings of the inquiry, the judge may receive and base a decision on evidence adduced in the proceedings and considered credible or trustworthy in the circumstances of the case.

• Marginal note:Right to be heard

  (8) Every member in respect of whom an inquiry is held shall be given reasonable notice of the subject-matter of the inquiry and of the time and place of any hearing and shall be given an opportunity, in person or by counsel, to be heard at the hearing, to cross-examine witnesses and to adduce evidence.

Marginal note:Report of inquiry

• 43 (1) After an inquiry has been completed, the judge who conducted the inquiry shall submit a report of the conclusions of the inquiry to the Minister.

• Marginal note:Recommendations

  (2) Where an inquiry has been held and, in the opinion of the judge who conducted the inquiry, the member in respect of whom the inquiry was held

  • (a) has become incapacitated from the due execution of their office by reason of infirmity,

  • (b) is guilty of misconduct,

  • (c) has failed in the due execution of their office, or

  • (d) has been placed, by conduct or otherwise, in a position that is incompatible with the due execution of their office,

  the judge may, in the report of the inquiry, recommend that the member be suspended without pay or removed from office or may recommend that such remedial measure as the judge considers necessary be taken.

• Marginal note:Governor in Council may suspend or remove

  (3) Where the Minister receives a report under subsection (1), the Minister shall send a copy of the report to the Governor in Council, who may suspend the member to whom the report relates without pay, remove the member from office or take any remedial measure.

Rules and Regulations

Marginal note:Rules

• 44 (1) The Board may make rules, not inconsistent with the regulations, governing the proceedings, practice and procedures of the Board.

• Marginal note:Quorum

  (2) A majority of permanent members in office constitutes a quorum for the purpose of making rules under subsection (1).

Marginal note:Regulations

45 The Governor in Council may make regulations for carrying the purposes and provisions of this Act into effect, including regulations

• (a) prescribing the procedure to be followed in respect of applications, appeals or other matters under this Act;

• (b) prescribing the information to be provided in connection with an application or appeal;

• (c) prescribing the information to be included in the Board’s decisions;

• (d) governing the giving of notice of the Board’s decisions; and

• (e) prescribing persons or organizations for the purposes of sections 30 and 37.

Amendments to the Pension Act

46 to 76 [Amendments]

Consequential Amendments

77 to 104 [Amendments]

Repeal

105 [Repeal]

Transitional

Marginal note:Members of Veterans Appeal Board cease to hold office

• 106 (1) The Chairman, Deputy Chairman and other members of the Veterans Appeal Board cease to hold office on the day on which this section comes into force.

• Marginal note:Staff

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the status of an employee who, immediately before the coming into force of this section, occupies a position in the Veterans Appeal Board, except that the employee shall, on the coming into force of this section, occupy their position in the Veterans Review and Appeal Board under the authority of the Chairperson of that Board.

• Marginal note:Definition of employee

  (3) In this section, employee has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Public Service Employment Act.

Marginal note:Members of Canadian Pension Commission cease to hold office

• 107 (1) The Chairman, Deputy Chairman and other members of the Canadian Pension Commission cease to hold office on the day on which this section comes into force.

• Marginal note:Staff

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the status of an employee who, immediately before the coming into force of this section, occupies a position in the Canadian Pension Commission, except that the employee shall, on the coming into force of this section, occupy their position in the Veterans Review and Appeal Board under the authority of the Chairperson of that Board.

• Marginal note:Definition of employee

  (3) In this section, employee has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Public Service Employment Act.

Marginal note:Chief Pensions Advocate ceases to hold office

• 108 (1) The Chief Pensions Advocate appointed pursuant to subsection 18(1) of the Pension Act, as it read immediately before the day on which section 47 of this Act comes into force, ceases to hold office on the day on which that section comes into force.

• Marginal note:Staff

  (2) Nothing in this Act shall be construed as affecting the status of an employee who, immediately before the coming into force of this section, occupies a position in the Bureau of Pensions Advocates, except that the employee shall, on the coming into force of this section, occupy their position in the Department of Veterans Affairs under the authority of the Deputy Minister of Veterans Affairs.

• Marginal note:Definition of employee

  (3) In this section, employee has the same meaning as in subsection 2(1) of the Public Service Employment Act.

Marginal note:Pending applications for awards

• 109 (1) Applications for awards pending before the Canadian Pension Commission on the day on which section 47 of this Act comes into force shall be transferred to the Minister of Veterans Affairs and dealt with in accordance with the Pension Act, as amended by this Act.

• Marginal note:Pending applications for compassionate awards

  (2) Applications made under section 33 of the Pension Act, as it read immediately before the day on which section 53 of this Act comes into force, that are pending before the Canadian Pension Commission on the day on which that section comes into force shall be transferred to the Veterans Review and Appeal Board and dealt with in accordance with section 34 of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act, as enacted by this Act.

Marginal note:Pending proceedings

• 110 (1) Proceedings pending on the day on which section 73 of this Act comes into force before members of the Canadian Pension Commission or an Entitlement Board under section 87 or 88 of the Pension Act, as that Act read immediately before the day on which section 73 of this Act comes into force, shall be taken up and continued under and in conformity with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act, as enacted by this Act, and the Pension Act, as amended by this Act, before a review panel of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board established in accordance with section 19 of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act.

• Marginal note:Pending proceedings

  (2) Proceedings pending before the Veterans Appeal Board on the day on which section 105 of this Act comes into force shall be taken up and continued under and in conformity with the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act, as enacted by this Act, and the Pension Act, as amended by this Act, before an appeal panel of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board established in accordance with section 27 of the Veterans Review and Appeal Board Act.

Marginal note:Reconsideration of decisions of predecessor bodies

111 The Veterans Review and Appeal Board may, on its own motion, reconsider any decision of the Veterans Appeal Board, the Pension Review Board, the War Veterans Allowance Board, or an Assessment Board or an Entitlement Board as defined in section 79 of the Pension Act, and may either confirm the decision or amend or rescind the decision if it determines that an error was made with respect to any finding of fact or the interpretation of any law, or may, in the case of any decision of the Veterans Appeal Board, the Pension Review Board or the War Veterans Allowance Board, do so on application if new evidence is presented to it.

Marginal note:Transfer of property and moneys in trust

112 Any property and moneys conveyed in trust to the Canadian Pension Commission pursuant to section 10 of the Pension Act, as it read immediately before the day on which section 47 of this Act comes into force, are on that day transferred to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, and the Minister shall administer the property or moneys in accordance with section 6 of the Pension Act, as enacted by section 47 of this Act.

Marginal note:Transfer of appropriations

• 113 (1) Any amount appropriated, for the fiscal year in which this Act comes into force, by an appropriation Act based on the Estimates for that year, for defraying the charges and expenses of the Veterans Appeal Board or the Canadian Pension Commission and that, on the day on which this section comes into force, is unexpended shall be applied, in such manner as the Treasury Board may determine, to defray the charges and expenses of the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Review and Appeal Board.

• Marginal note:Transfer of appropriations

  (2) Any amount appropriated, for the fiscal year in which this Act comes into force, by an appropriation Act based on the Estimates for that year, for defraying the charges and expenses of the Bureau of Pensions Advocates and that, on the day on which this section comes into force, is unexpended shall be applied, in such manner as the Treasury Board may determine, to defray the charges and expenses of the Department of Veterans Affairs.