College said applicants must have ‘character to safely and ethically practice paramedicine’
The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has drawn a firm line around labour mobility, social media conduct and persistent litigation in a decision with direct implications for HR professionals managing regulated or public-facing roles.
In Hogg v. Registrar of the College of Paramedics of Nova Scotia, 2025 NSCA 83, the court partly allowed an appeal by paramedic applicant Sybil Hogg, overturning a lower-court order that declared her a vexatious litigant. However, the court also confirmed that she must submit a new, completed interprovincial application before she can be considered for registration and licensure in Nova Scotia.
The dispute began with Hogg’s 2021 application to the College of Paramedics of Nova Scotia (now the Nova Scotia Regulator of Paramedicine). In May 2022, the College’s Registration Committee issued an 11-page decision denying her application on character grounds under a requirement that applicants have the “character to safely and ethically practice paramedicine.”
That decision recorded that Hogg had publicly posted that Islam is “pure evil” and “has no place in Canadian society.” The committee found reason for concern “about Ms. Hogg’s ability to provide the required level of compassionate and empathetic care to Muslim Nova Scotians,” citing the college’s mandate to maintain public confidence in its ability to regulate paramedicine.
It concluded that “those in the Muslim Nova Scotia community would question Ms. Hogg’s licensure with the college and may experience discomfort upon receiving her care,” and that “given Ms. Hogg’s statements and their impacts on the Islamic community, it is clear that Ms. Hogg’s licensure would not be in the public interest.”
In 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called for unity within the tech industry to support Muslim and Arab colleagues feeling discomfort in speaking out about their experiences.
A registered, licensed paramedic
In January 2023, Hogg became registered and licensed as a paramedic in New Brunswick. She then invoked Nova Scotia’s Patient Access to Care Act and Chapter Seven of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, claiming that, once she held a New Brunswick licence, her 2021 Nova Scotia application “suffices” and the college was obliged to register and licence her within five business days without further assessment.
Hogg “rejects the proposition that she must file a second application at this point merely because she has since been registered in New Brunswick,” according to the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal.
The court rejected that legal theory. It held that her 2021 application had “merged into” the Registration Committee’s 2022 decision and was now “spent,” meaning it could not be repurposed as a mobility application.
The court stated: “Ms. Hogg’s 2021 application does not trigger Chapter Seven of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. She must file a new application as an inter‑provincial registrant.” It accepted affidavit evidence from the registrar that, although she began an online application in April 2024, “as of today’s date, Ms. Hogg has not completed or submitted this application,” and noted that she had written, “In no way have I sought or intended to submit a second application for registration and licensure.”
Review application dismissal
The court also upheld the dismissal of Hogg’s 2024 judicial review application, finding it barred by issue estoppel — a legal principle that prevents someone from denying issues already decided against them — and an abuse of process because she was effectively trying to relitigate the same demand for immediate licensure already rejected by Justice Boudreau at the Supreme Court. The Court of Appeal agreed that, without a completed interprovincial application and a resulting decision, there was “no decision for him to … reviewable,” making any judicial review premature.
Where the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal parted company with the lower court was on the vexatious-litigant designation. Justice Ann Smith had declared Hogg a vexatious litigant under section 45B of the Judicature Act, restricting her ability to start new proceedings about her licensure. Relying on its earlier decision in Tupper v. Nova Scotia (Attorney General), the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal emphasised that such orders “should be reserved for the clearest of cases and used only where necessary to prevent ongoing abuse,” and stressed the distinction between a litigant who brings a vexatious proceeding and someone who should be branded a vexatious litigant more broadly.
The court observed that Hogg is “not the classic vexatious litigant who uses the court’s podium for indiscriminate harassment,” but someone with “an intrepid ambition to be a paramedic” who is “hyper‑focused” on that goal. It concluded that her conduct could be controlled by existing tools — summary judgment, abuse‑of‑process dismissals, costs, security for costs and, if needed, a future 45B motion — without a standing restraint on court access.
To give clarity, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal set out two lawful pathways: Hogg may reactivate her appeal of the 2022 Registration Committee decision under the transition provisions, or she file a “completed application” as a New Brunswick registrant.
“Ms. Hogg does not have the legal option of starting a new proceeding … to re‑litigate the issues that have been determined,” said the court. It also noted that whichever avenue she chooses, she must address “head‑on the impact of her allegedly Islamophobic posts on the quality of care she would offer to Muslim patients.”
In 2023, the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) spoke up against racism faced by workers – along with the need for Ottawa to take action – related to the situation in Israel-Palestine. Across Canada, workers are experiencing “a sharp spike in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism,” according to the group.
