The Health Professions Discipline Tribunal is an independent tribunal that oversees the discipline process for regulated health professions in B.C. We make sure the process is fair, effective and in the public interest.
Principles of the Discipline Tribunal
We’re committed to the following principles:
- Protect the public from harm and discrimination
- Take and promote anti-discrimination measures
- Act in a fair manner and respect the principles of procedural fairness
- Respect the privacy of anyone who participates in regulatory processes
- Support and promote:
- Awareness of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples
- The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- The need to address racism and anti-racism issues that are specific to Indigenous peoples, including acknowledging the rights, interests, priorities and concerns that are specific to First Nations peoples, Métis peoples and Inuit peoples
The principles of the Discipline Tribunal are outlined in section 12 of the Health Professions and Occupations Act (HPOA).
Join the Tribunal
Meet the Discipline Tribunal
The director of discipline leads the Discipline Tribunal. They appoint a deputy director of discipline and members of the discipline panel.
Benson Cowan, director of discipline
Benson is a settler of Irish and French-Canadian heritage. He was born and raised in northern Ontario and Manitoba and has longstanding family ties to the Ottawa area. He lives in the traditional territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.
Benson was appointed director of discipline in September 2024. Prior to his appointment, he was a constitutional and administrative lawyer with the BC Ministry of Attorney General. Previously, he served as the CEO of Nunavut Legal Aid, legal director with Safety, Licensing and Standards Tribunals Ontario and Environment and Land Tribunals Ontario, and director of Social Policy with the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation. He has also worked in private criminal and constitutional law practice at Goldblatt Partners in Toronto, on war and ethnic crimes prosecutions in Kosovo, and justice sector reform projects in Kosovo, Liberia and the Solomon Islands.
Amita Vulimiri, deputy director of discipline
Amita Vulimiri was appointed deputy director of discipline in September 2025. Before this, she served as legal counsel with the BC Labour Relations Board and Employment Standards Tribunal, where she advised on statutory interpretation, procedural fairness, and decision writing and represented the institutions on judicial reviews.
She has also worked as counsel at the Law Commission of Ontario on law reform projects, as a lawyer with the Community Legal Assistance Society representing low-income British Columbians and internationally with the Law Society of Kenya on constitutional and human rights reform. Amita is vice-chair of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – BC Chapter and has held board roles with the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture and PovNet.
Amita is a South Asian settler of Telugu heritage, born and raised in British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver, on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
