If your complaint was dismissed, you have the right to request a review.

Your right to request a review

Under the Health Professions Act (HPA), the College’s Complaints Director has the option to dismiss a complaint. This is typically done when a complaint is found to have insufficient or no evidence of unprofessional conduct.

If your complaint is dismissed, you have the right under the HPA to request a review of that decision from the College’s Complaint Review Committee (CRC). The CRC is a decision body made up of registrants and members of the public.

The CRC’s role is to independently review your complaint submission and any information available to the Complaints Director when they made their decision, to determine whether the decision to dismiss your complaint was reasonable.

When to request a review

If you believe the Complaints Director’s decision to dismiss your complaint was unreasonable, you can request a review. A review is not an appeal, a hearing, or an opportunity to testify and provide new evidence.

We understand you may disagree with the decision to dismiss your complaint, but this does not mean the decision was unreasonable. Your request must describe in detail the reasons why you feel the Complaints Director’s decision to dismiss your complaint was unreasonable. Please note that simply restating the issue or saying you disagree with the decision does not mean the decision was unreasonable. Examples of unreasonable decisions are dismissals that don’t make sense based on the facts of the complaint, didn’t fully consider the evidence provided, or don’t align with the applicable standards of practice.

A request to review a dismissed complaint must be submitted to the College’s Hearings Director within 30 days, according to the following timelines:

• If your dismissal letter is sent by email, the 30-day period begins on the date the College sends the letter to the email address you provided when you filed your complaint.
• If your dismissal letter is sent by registered mail, the 30-day period begins 7 days after the letter is given to a carrier for delivery (to allow for reasonable carrier processing time).

A non-refundable administrative fee of $300 is required to process a request to review a dismissed complaint.

Submitting your request for review

Once submitted, a request for review is assessed by the College’s Hearings Director, who will confirm the request was received within the allotted time period and that reasons for requesting the review were provided.

Because this is a review of the Complaints Director’s decision, based on the evidence available at the time, you may not submit new information to support your argument. If new evidence is provided with your submission, you will be asked to remove it and resubmit your request.

Once your request has been reviewed, the Hearings Director’s Office will email you instructions on how to submit the administrative fee of $300. Payment must be received before your review can proceed.

If you submit a request to review multiple complaints, the fee applies to each request submitted.

You will be notified in writing if and when the CRC will review your complaint.

How the review process works

The Hearings Director will:

1. Process requests for review in the order they are received.
2. Provide the registrant with a copy of your request for review and give them an opportunity to respond.
3. Collect your complaint package from the Complaints Director, including your complaint submission and any evidence or documentation the Complaints Director had when they made the decision to dismiss.
4. Provide the CRC with copies of your request for review, your complaint package, and the registrant’s response (if one is provided).

The CRC will review all the documentation and make one of the following decisions:

• Confirm that the decision to dismiss your complaint was reasonable.
• Ask the Complaints Director to further investigate your complaint, prepare a report, and submit it back to the CRC for a final decision.
• Refer your complaint to a hearing.

The CRC cannot:

• Re-open or direct an investigation about new issues or new information.
• Provide financial compensation.
• Provide records from the complaints process to be used for other purposes.
• Offer legal advice.

Once a decision is reached, the CRC will notify both you and the registrant in writing. The entire process, from submitting the request to completion of the review, typically takes 6 to 12 months, depending on the number of requests received and the complexity of the matter.