Concept
Interim Suspensions
Current Provisions Proposal
The Veterinarians Act currently includes interim
suspension provisions related to matters of
incapacity or wellness. More specifically, under the
Act, a Board of Inquiry (appointed by the Executive
Committee) may require a licensed member to
submit to physical and mental examinations by
a qualified person, and if the licensed member
refuses or fails to submit to such examinations,
the Board of Inquiry may order that the licensed
member’s licence be suspended until he or she
complies. In addition, when a Board of Inquiry
reports its findings to the Executive Committee and
if the Executive Committee refers the matter to
the Registration Committee to hold a hearing, the
Executive Committee may suspend the licensed
member’s licence until the determination of
whether or not the licensed member is impaired
becomes final 11 . It is proposed that within the authorities of a
newly constituted Investigations and Resolutions
Committee, the committee be permitted to
make an interim order directing the Registrar to
suspend or impose terms, conditions or limitations
on a member’s licence if:
There are currently, however, no parallel
provisions in the Veterinarians Act related to
interim suspensions when a case is referred to the
Discipline Committee.
11 Veterinarians Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. V.3, s 33.
54 Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine in Ontario
(a) it is of the opinion that the conduct of the
member exposes or is likely to expose any
animal(s) or his or her client(s) to serious harm
or injury; and
(b) an allegation has been referred to the
Discipline Committee.
If such an order is made, the College must
prosecute the matter expeditiously and the
Discipline Committee must give precedence to
the matter.
It is also proposed that an interim suspension may
not be made unless the member has been given
notice of the Committee’s intention to make
the order and provided time to make written
submissions to the Committee. In extraordinary
circumstances an interim suspension may be
made without notice to the licensed member, if
there are reasonable and probable grounds to
believe that urgent intervention is needed.