Evaluating education and qualification of aspiring pharmacists was provincial matter

JUDICIAL REVIEW

Evaluating education and qualification of aspiring pharmacists was provincial matter

All provinces had licensing boards to determine if someone could practice pharmacy within the province, and all provinces except Quebec required applicants to pass the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) qualifying examination. Under Regulations to Pharmacy Act, 1991 (Ont.), applicants had three tries to pass the exam and could request a fourth attempt upon completion of remedial assistance. After four unsuccessful attempts, Regulations required an applicant to obtain a new Bachelor’s Degree and try again. Applicant failed test three times, did remedial work, and then made fourth attempt but failed again. Applicant requested fifth attempt, but PEBC refused. Application for judicial review of PEBC’s decision refusing to grant applicant fifth attempt at exam. Application dismissed. Evaluating education and qualification of aspiring pharmacists was provincial matter, and each province had Regulations. Section 12(1) of An Act to Incorporate the Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada, only amounted to limited authority to allow judicial review by Federal Court of certain removals from PEBC’s Pharmacy Register due to quasi-criminal allegations. This was not sufficient body of federal law to nourish grant of jurisdiction. Federal court lacked jurisdiction to hear application.
Aljawhiri v. Canada (Pharmacy Examining Board) (Mar. 31, 2014, F.C., Glennys L. McVeigh J., File No. T-718-13) 239 A.C.W.S. (3d) 245.