Bylaw Adjudication System

Under the Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, local governments may establish a bylaw notice adjudication system. The Village has implemented a Bylaw Adjudication System, which allows the municipality to resolve minor bylaw disputes at the local level rather than through the Provincial Court system.

Previously, a disputed bylaw ticket had to appear in a BC Provincial Court, an expensive and time-consuming process. With the Bylaw Adjudication System, Bylaw Notice disputes are reviewed by adjudicators assigned by the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Bylaw Notices are the only type of ticket issued that can be disputed using the Bylaw Adjudication system.

Compliance Agreements

In some cases, you may have the option to enter into a Compliance Agreement before going to adjudication if you wish to dispute a ticket. This involves a review by a Screening Officer at our office whereby terms & conditions are established and a reduced fine may be applicable.

You can check to see whether a Compliance Agreement is available for your ticket in Village of Pemberton Bylaw Notice Enforcement Bylaw No. 874, 2020.

Adjudication Process

Disputed tickets that cannot be settled under a Compliance Agreement will proceed to adjudication. See What Happens When You dispute Your Ticket.

Discounts apply to tickets paid within 14 days. Once a ticket is disputed and is upheld after adjudication, the ticket is no longer eligible for this discount. The full amount of the ticket, plus a $25 adjudication fee is then due. 

Disputes will only be considered for valid reasons.  Bylaw Notices will not be dismissed for reasons such as:

• You were unaware of the regulations or bylaw
• You have never received a ticket before for this violation

How to Dispute

You must submit a separate application for each disputed ticket.

By paper: Fill in the adjudication request on the back of the ticket, and mail or bring it to the Village Office within 14 days of the issue date if you wish to dispute a Bylaw Notice. 

By email: Requests to dispute a Bylaw Notice may be submitted by email to bylaw@pemberton.ca. 

Please include:

• Bylaw Notice #
• Date of issue
• Your name and postal address
• Your email
• Your phone number

After the dispute request is filed and reviewed, a Screening Officer will contact you. 

A $25 fee is added to the penalty if an adjudicator finds the contravention did occur and the option to pay the discounted penalty is no longer available.

Dispute time frame:

Disputants have 14 days to dispute the notice from the date the notice is considered to be received. Please note a bylaw notice delivered by mail is presumed to have been received by the person to whom it is addressed on the 7th day after mailing. A bylaw notice delivered to a vehicle is presumed to be received on the day it is left.  To learn more see the Act.

What happens when you dispute your ticket

1. Screening Officer review

A Screening Officer will contact you to review the details of your dispute. The Screening Officer will either confirm or dismiss the ticket, based on the Screening Officer Policy.

2. Compliance Agreement

Some tickets allow for a Compliance Agreement to be entered into between the Village and a disputant. Check column A4 of the schedule pertaining to your bylaw notice in Bylaw Notice Enforcement Bylaw No. 874, 2020 to see whether a Compliance Agreement is available for each contravention.

Compliance Agreements allow the Village’s Screening Officer to establish remedies or conditions that a disputant must comply with within a certain period of time. Upon compliance, a Screening Officer may reduce the penalty to the amount shown in Column A5 of the Bylaw.

3. Adjudication

If you cannot reach a Compliance Agreement with a Screening Officer, if the option for a Compliance Agreement is not available, or if the terms and conditions of a Compliance Agreement have been breached, a Bylaw Notice can be referred to an adjudicator for dispute resolution.

4. Set a hearing date

After the Screening Officer review, if you choose to go forward to adjudication, you will be contacted by a dispute coordinator to set the date of the adjudication hearing. You can choose your preferred method of participation: in person, by phone, or in writing.

As the Village shares adjudication services with neighbouring areas, adjudication hearings will take place at a location to be determined, either at the Village Office, Squamish-Lillooet Regional District Office, or Whistler Municipal Hall.

5. Evidence package

An evidence package will be sent to you which will include the evidence being presented at the hearing. This will be sent 14 days prior to the hearing. The package will contain statements, evidence and materials related to the matter. 

6. Adjudicator makes a decision

At the hearing, an independent adjudicator will determine if the bylaw infraction occurred or not. If the adjudicator determines an infraction occurred, you will need to pay the full amount of the ticket, plus a $25 adjudication fee. If the adjudicator determines no bylaw violation occurred, you will not have to pay the fine or adjudication fee.

7. Hearing information

A dispute adjudication must be open to the public unless the determination is to be based on written materials. As per the Local Government Bylaw Notice Enforcement Act, if a person who has requested or required dispute adjudication is not heard by an adjudicator because the person fails to appear, the adjudicator must order that the penalty set out in the bylaw notice is immediately due and payable by the person to the local government indicated on the bylaw notice.