Wiebe v. Bonnefoy et al., (2015) 318 Man.R.(2d) 302 (QB)

• Judge: Schulman, J.
• Court: Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba (Canada)
• Case Date: July 08, 2015
• Jurisdiction: Manitoba
• Citations: (2015), 318 Man.R.(2d) 302 (QB);2015 MBQB 118

Wiebe v. Bonnefoy (2015), 318 Man.R.(2d) 302 (QB)

MLB headnote and full text

Temp. Cite: [2015] Man.R.(2d) TBEd. JL.025

Earl Joel Wiebe (applicant) v. Robert Bonnefoy, Warden of Stony Mountain Institution, Peter Linkletter, Deputy Commissioner of Correctional Service of Canada (Prairie Region) and Attorney General of Canada (respondents)

(CI 15-01-95500, 2015 MBQB 118)

Indexed As: Wiebe v. Bonnefoy et al.

Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench

Winnipeg Centre

Schulman, J.

July 8, 2015.

Summary:

Wiebe was an inmate at Stony Mountain Institution. The warden upgraded him from a medium security risk to a maximum security risk. Wiebe applied for a writ of habeas corpus.

The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench granted the application.

Administrative Law - Topic 549

The hearing and decision - Decisions of the tribunal - Reasons for decisions - Sufficiency of - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Administrative Law - Topic 2155

Natural justice - Administrative decisions or findings - Effect of failure of tribunal or official to give reasons for decisions (incl. sufficiency of) - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Administrative Law - Topic 2266

Natural justice - The duty of fairness - What constitutes procedural fairness - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Administrative Law - Topic 2617

Natural justice - Evidence and proof - Disclosure (incl. reliance on evidence not disclosed to party) - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Habeas Corpus - Topic 2

General - When available - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Habeas Corpus - Topic 1208

Grounds for issue of writ - Imprisonment - Change of conditions of - [See Prisons - Topic 1027 ].

Prisons - Topic 1027

Administration - Powers re prisoners - Classification - Wiebe, a medium security inmate, embraced religion in 2014 - His case management team (CMT), whose principal member was Beatty, recommended that Wiebe's security classification be upgraded to maximum because of the manner in which he attempted to engage prison staff in religious discussion - Wiebe's position that there was no basis for increasing his security classification was initially supported by the December 2014 report of a psychologist (Howes) - However, Beatty met with Howes in January 2015 and persuaded him to change his opinion on the basis of inaccurate and misleading information - The warden accepted the CMT's recommendation - The Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench allowed Wiebe's application for a writ of habeas corpus - The warden's decision did not contain a statement of what evidence was relied on and an explanation of why it was credible, contrary to the standard set out in a policy bulletin - Presumably, the warden must have accepted the entire CMT report and accordingly placed considerable reliance on Howes' opinion - The misinformation that Beatty provided to Howes was not disclosed to Wiebe, and Wiebe was not re-interviewed by Howes - Nor did Beatty disclose to the warden how he changed Howes' opinion - Beatty's changing, recording and reporting of Howes' opinion constituted a breach of the common law duty of fairness and of s. 27(1) of the Corrections and Conditional Release Act.

Cases Noticed:

Khela v. Mission Institution (Warden) et al., [2014] 1 S.C.R. 502; 455 N.R. 279; 351 B.C.A.C. 91; 599 W.A.C. 91; 2014 SCC 24, refd to. [para. 3].

May et al. v. Ferndale Institution et al., [2005] 3 S.C.R. 809; 343 N.R. 69; 220 B.C.A.C. 1; 362 W.A.C. 1; 2005 SCC 82, refd to. [para. 5].

Counsel:

Allison E.M. Fenske and Meghan Menzies, for the applicant;

Scott Farlinger, for the respondents.

This application was heard before Schulman, J., of the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench, Winnipeg Centre, who delivered the following judgment on July 8, 2015.