Ministry of Forests and Range
Process for an Opportunity to be Heard
Pursuant to section 71 (1) of the Forest
and Range Practices Act, you have the
right to an "opportunity to be heard"
(OTBH) prior to a determination of noncompliance with forestry legislation or
levying of penalty that may arise from a
determination. The purpose of the
OTBH is to provide you with an
opportunity to present evidence in
support of your position and to rebut the
Ministry’s evidence, and to ensure the
decision-maker has all the facts
necessary to make a fair and reasonable
determination. In other words it is your
opportunity to tell the decision maker
your side of the story.
whose accounts support your position.
You can also present evidence in the
form of documents, such as letters or
photographs, if those will help you tell
your story. You may also have a lawyer
or another person represent you and
present your case at the hearing. You are
asked to notify the Ministry of your
intention to have a lawyer present at
your earliest opportunity. Costs of
retaining legal counsel are yours alone to
bear, as are all your costs associated with
attending the hearing. In most cases, the
Ministry will not have legal counsel
present at the hearing, but may choose to
do so in some cases.
OTBHs can be by way of written
submissions or by way of an oral
hearing. Oral hearings are informal in
comparison to court proceedings;
however, it is quasi judicial in nature and
there are formalities that must be
observed, such as respect for the process
and all the parties involved. The
decision-maker [usually the District
Manager] has the responsibility and the
right to control the hearing. This
includes establishing fair and reasonable
advance rules for the hearing. In your
notification letter, you have been
advised of the date of the hearing, and
of the necessity to provide the decision
maker and C&E staff with all
documents, expert’s reports, and list
of witnesses at least 14 days prior the
hearing.
Prior to the hearing
At the hearing, you can present your
own oral testimony (tell your side of the
story) or the oral testimony of witnesses
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You will be provided with the Ministry’s
evidence along with notification of any
Ministry experts or witnesses that will
attend the hearing. If this does not occur
you should inform the contact person
named in the notification letter as soon
as possible and the information will be
provided to you. The Ministry cannot
surprise you with new evidence at the
hearing, and you are expected to abide
by the same standard.
You can prepare for the hearing by
reviewing the information provided,
reviewing the issues with any witnesses
or experts that may attend on your
behalf, and consider the questions you
may wish to ask of Ministry staff. You
should also prepare and submit any
documents or supporting information
you believe may be relevant.
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Ministry staff may contact you prior to
the hearing in order to discuss the option
of preparing ‘An Agreed Statement of
Facts’. You are not required to do this
however, doing so will enable a more
efficient process and assist the decisionmaker in making his or her
determination. It may also assist you in
understanding the Ministry’s case, and
minimize the amount of work necessary
on your part to prepare for the hearing.
When presented with the offer of an oral
hearing, you may decline and provide a
written submission instead. You should
make this choice clear when you respond
to the offer of a hearing. If you do not
attend an oral hearing or provide
evidence by way of written submissions,
then a determination will be made based
on Ministry evidence alone.
Requests to reschedule a hearing to
another date must be provided in writing
no later than 21 days prior to the hearing
date, and must include reasons. The
decision-maker has the right to deny any
request for rescheduling. Rescheduling
requests made in the 21 day period
before the hearing date will only be
granted in extraordinary circumstances.
What happens at the hearing?
The decision-maker determines how the
hearing will proceed. The hearing may
be tape recorded. If the hearing is not
recorded, there will likely be a Ministry
employee present to document the
proceedings. The decision-maker will
introduce him or herself, and will outline
how the hearing will proceed.
Generally, Ministry staff will present
their evidence first. You will be
provided an opportunity to ask questions
of Ministry staff. The decision-maker
may ask questions as well. Then, you
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will be afforded an opportunity to
present your case. Ministry staff will
have the opportunity to question you and
your witnesses, as will the decisionmaker. As well, the decision-maker may
provide the opportunity for all parties to
re-question or probe statements made in
response to questioning.
The decision-maker may limit the ability
of parties to ask questions of each other
if he or she feels that the questions are
not relevant to the issues. The decisionmaker will enforce a code of civilized
behaviour. This does not mean that hard
or difficult questions cannot be asked ―
they can, but they must be asked in a
respectful manner. A decision-maker
has the right to adjourn a hearing for a
number of reasons, including where a
party introduces new evidence or issues
that the other party cannot fairly respond
to in the time provided.
A hearing’s length varies according to
the amount of information presented.
Most are not scheduled for more than a
day.
After presenting their evidence ,
responding to questions, and asking
questions of the other side, the parties
will likely be given the opportunity to
make closing remarks in which to sum
up their arguments and evidence. It is
unlikely that the decision-maker will
render a decision at the close of the
hearing, but he or she will provide you
with a determination in writing, along
with supporting reasons. This
determination will also include
notification and contact information
regarding your right to review and
appeal, if any.
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