Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov

Vavilov restated the framework for standard of review in Canadian administrative law. Reasonableness is the presumptive standard for review of administrative decisions. Correctness applies in five categories: legislative direction, statutory rights of appeal, constitutional questions, general questions of law of central importance to the legal system, and jurisdictional boundaries between administrative bodies.

Vavilov, son of Russian sleeper agents, was born in Canada. Citizenship registrar revoked his Canadian citizenship under s.3(2)(a), which excludes children of foreign government employees. Issue was whether the registrar's interpretation was reasonable.

(1) What is the framework for selecting standard of review? (2) How is reasonableness applied?

Decision unreasonable. Citizenship reinstated. Standard-of-review framework restated.

Selection: reasonableness presumed; correctness in five categories (legislative direction, statutory rights of appeal applying appellate standards, constitutional questions, general questions of law of central importance, jurisdictional boundaries between bodies). Application: reasonableness is a single robust standard focused on whether the decision is justified, transparent, and intelligible. The reasoning chain must be logically coherent and the outcome must be defensible in light of the legal and factual constraints.

Wagner CJ, Moldaver and Gascon JJ jointly held that the post-Dunsmuir landscape had become contested and unworkable. The new presumption of reasonableness is anchored in legislative intent and respect for institutional design. Where Parliament provides a statutory appeal, the appellate standards (Housen) apply, not administrative-law deference. The reasoned-decision requirement was strengthened: courts examine the actual reasons given, not hypothesised ones.

The most important Canadian administrative law decision in a decade. Required restatement of the entire field. Subsequent cases (Mason, Society of Composers v Entertainment Software Association) refine application.

Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65, [2019] 4 SCR 653.

Wagner CJ, Abella J, Moldaver J, Karakatsanis J, Côté J, Brown J, Rowe J, Martin J