City looks at moving some traffic tickets out of court

The City of Ottawa is looking hard at a system that would allow drivers to dispute parking and camera-issued tickets without going to court, but one lawyer worries it could lead to biased decisions.

Provincial law empowers municipalities to adopt an administrative penalties system, which handles certain by-law and camera-based offences in-house instead of through judges or justices of the peace.

The system allows residents to take their disputes to a city screening officer, who can reduce or cancel the penalty. That decision is subject to appeal with a city-appointed hearing officer.

Other Ontario cities such as Toronto and Waterloo have already made the switch.

Ottawa is "exploring the feasibility and impacts of implementing such a system," according to Robert Giggey, the acting director of Service Ottawa.

Staff plan to table a report to council in the new year, Giggey said over email.

A tender seeking software to support the program goes further, saying the city "plans to transition" its parking, red-light camera and automated speed camera offences to adjudication and management through an administrative penalties system.

In the tender, it says the new program will simplify and speed up the process.

Lawyer says change could mean bias

Ottawa's current regime requires anyone who wants to challenge camera-based tickets to go to provincial offences court.

For parking offences, residents have the option of a trial or review by a screening officer — but their decision can still be appealed to the court.

Michael Polowin, the Ottawa-based national group leader with Gowling law firm, worries that moving disputes out of the courts raises "the potential for a conflict of interest."

That's because the hearing officers, Polowin said, would be appointed and paid by the city to decide disputes about city tickets.

"In my experience of dealing with similar tribunals, the way that they are handled, the decisions that come out are not necessarily free of bias," he said.

A car drives past a photo radar camera in a residential part of Ottawa last December. (Mateo Garcia-Tremblay/CBC)

Polowin said administrative processes often give more deference to the city's own position than to that of the person who's been ticketed. That's different from the existing court-based system where justices are "by definition independent of the city."

"As a general rule, I am always suspect of people's rights being affected in the name of speeding things up. That often means that their rights are not being respected as they were before," Polowin said.

"In my experience, municipalities are wrong as many times as they are right."

When asked about those concerns over email, Giggey did not respond directly.

Residents unsure if bureaucracy or justices are best

Residents at provincial offences court Friday had mixed feelings about the potential shift.

Michael Carr said he was satisfied with how the court handled his red-light camera tickets and worried a change could make things worse.

"I sat down there for about 10 minutes, maybe, and then I saw the justice and got my fines reduced in half," he said. "I'm a happy camper, and it was a pretty fast process."

Andrew Morgan said sees some merit in the city's ideas, but hoped any change would still allow residents to appeal decisions in court.

"An administrator isn't a legal authority," he said. "He's an administrator. So, I think you should always have the right to contest that further."

Morgan Fecteau said she got a red-light camera ticket in March and is planning to plead guilty and ask for a reduced fine.

Her court date was initially planned to take place on Zoom in July, but was rescheduled for this month. That new date was also moved to an in-person hearing and Fecteau said she wasn't properly notified.

"It's kind of frustrating," she said. "I waited an hour yesterday, not knowing if someone was going to come onto the Zoom … now I have to come here."

Fecteau said the administrative system sounds more straightforward and could be better organized.

"It just seems like they need to [make] a change. So maybe this will be for the better."