Request for a review
If the College decides to close a complaint without referring it to the Tribunal, our written decision will include information about how to request a review of the complaint by the ICRO.
You must make an application for review no later than 30 days after receiving notice of the decision to close your complaint (see s. 29.1 of the By-laws).
The application for review must:
- Be addressed to the ICRO.
- Be completed and submitted using the application form on the College’s website.
- Set out the complainant’s detailed reasons for requesting the review.
- Be signed by you or your legal representative.
- Be accompanied by the CAD $25 fee for the review.
The application may also be accompanied by any additional information you wish to provide, if that information:
- Is related to the College’s handling of the complaint, and
- Was not previously provided during the investigation.
The ICRO may refuse to consider your application for review if the application:
- Does not meet the requirements above (see s. 2.3 of the Regulation).
- Obviously appears to be made for an improper purpose, or
- Is not about anything that the ICRO has the power to review under the By-laws or Regulation.
Before the ICRO refuses to consider your application for review, they may contact you to give you a reasonable opportunity to respond (for example, to fix any problems with your application, or to give more information to the ICRO).
If the ICRO has decided to go ahead with a review, the ICRO and the College will ensure that the ICRO receives a copy of the complaint file.
Once the ICRO receives the file, they will notify the RCIC or RISIA (known as the respondent) in writing that the ICRO will be conducting a review.
The ICRO and the College must follow the same confidentiality rules that apply to the handling or investigation of complaints (see s. 2.6 of the Regulation). During the review, the ICRO will only share information with individuals if the benefit to the review outweighs any harm that may be caused by sharing it.
Powers and responsibilities of the ICRO
The ICRO may require the College to provide any information or materials related to the complaint under review or to the procedures that were used to deal with that complaint (see s. 2.2 of the Regulation).
The ICRO has the power and discretion to decide how to conduct their review of the complaint procedures. The ICRO may decide to do 1 or more of the following:
- Refuse your request for a review, because it does not raise issues that are serious enough, or because any review will likely not lead to any different outcome, or for any other reason.
- Review the closing of the complaint by investigating the College’s handling of the complaint.
- Mediate between you and the College to try to achieve an agreement to settle the matter.
- Stop or temporarily suspend a review at any time and close the review without any referral or further action.
- Decide to refer the complaint back to the College (see s. 2.1 of the Regulation).
During the review, the ICRO may receive fresh information. If this turns out to be significant information that the College did not have during its handling of the complaint—and that you could not have provided earlier—the ICRO may refer that information back to the College for further consideration. If the outcome of the College’s review could impact the ICRO’s final decision, the ICRO may wait for a response from the College before continuing with the review (see s. 29.4 of the By-Laws and s. 2.4 of the Regulation).
The ICRO must promptly report to the CEO of the College if the ICRO becomes aware of any of the following situations:
- The ICRO is unable to continue for any reason.
- The review can no longer be conducted fairly or with integrity because of a possible conflict of interest or any other reason.
- There has been a breach in confidentiality.
The ICRO will complete their review and make a decision or recommendation no later than 30 days after receiving the complaint file. If the ICRO is unable to meet this deadline, they will tell you and the respondent when they expect to finish the review.
ICRO decisions
In reviewing the complaint, the ICRO may only consider the fairness of the procedures used by the College in handling or investigating the complaint. The ICRO cannot consider the merits of the complaint or whether it should have been supported or dismissed.
After the ICRO’s review of the complaint procedures, the ICRO may:
- Decide to take no further action if they accept that the complaint procedures were fair and that no error in fact or law occurred.
- Refer the complaint back to the College with a recommendation for further action.
- Settle the matter between you and the College and have each party sign a settlement agreement (see s. 29.4 of the By-laws).
The ICRO will provide their decision in writing, with reasons, to you, the respondent, and the College. The decision of the ICRO is final and cannot be reviewed or appealed (see ss. 29.5 and 29.6 of the By-laws).
If the ICRO decides to refer the complaint back to the Complaints Committee, they will state in their decision if the complaint must be considered by a different panel of the Complaints Committee than the committee that originally considered the complaint (see s. 29.4 of the By-laws).
After the ICRO refers a complaint back to College staff or the Complaints Committee panel, the staff or panel may decide to gather more information or investigate further. The staff or panel should follow the ICRO’s recommendations unless they have a good reason to not do so. If the staff or panel decide again to close the complaint without a referral to the Tribunal, they must give reasons that respond to the concerns and recommendations of the ICRO.