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Consolidated Practice Direction

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TO:

Members of the legal profession and all parties to proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal

FROM:

The Honourable Yves de Montigny, Chief Justice

DATE:

August 2, 2024

SUBJECT:

Consolidated Practice Direction


  1. Introduction

    1. This is the first update of the Court’s Consolidated Practice Direction that was originally published on June 1, 2023. An index by topic appears at the end of this Direction.

    2. The Court will maintain on its website one version of this Direction, incorporating any amendments made to it from time to time. Former versions will be taken down from the website, but will remain available to the public for a limited period of time and be disposed of in accordance with paragraph 68 of this Direction.

    3. Amendments to this Direction take effect on the date that they are published on the Court’s website unless otherwise specified.

  2. Official Court record

    1. As of June 1, 2023, the official Court record under section 3 of the Federal Courts Act shall be comprised of electronic and paper documents that have been filed, any physical exhibits that have been filed and documents issued by the Court, whether in paper form or electronic, such as judgments, orders, reasons and directions.

  3. Filing electronic documents

    1. Documents may be filed using the Court’s electronic filing system.

    2. Aside from the usual fees under Tariff A, there is no additional fee to use the electronic filing system. The electronic filing system may allow for the electronic payment of certain fees required to be paid under Tariff A, such as fees for issuing or filing documents. Unfortunately, this method of payment is not, for the moment, instantaneous. For the purpose of determining the time of filing and referrals to the Court for a ruling under Rules 71.1(1)(b), 72(2)(a) and 72.1, an electronic document will be considered to have been submitted for filing, and accepted for filing, on the day the document was presented for filing (uploaded to the e-filing system or received in the email filing inbox) provided that any requisite fee is received within 3 business days of the presentation of the document for filing. In light of the delay that may be caused by payment of the fee in the case of electronic documents, in order to preserve the normal timeline, where personal service on the federal Crown is to be made by the Registry under Rule 133, the Crown will be considered to have been served on the day of the actual transmission of the document to the Crown.

    3. As a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court created an email address to receive materials for filing by email (FCAREGISTRY.CAFGREFFE@cas-satj.gc.ca). This email address will remain in place for the time being as a back-up to the electronic filing system. Email filing may be phased out completely in the future. Parties should use the electronic filing system and should only use email if absolutely necessary.

    4. Electronic documents must:

      1. be in Portable Document Format (*.pdf);
      2. have any security settings deactivated;
      3. not contain malware, viruses, or other malicious content;
      4. have any “commenting” functionality enabled;
      5. be page numbered, labelled and arranged in a way that is logical and accurately describes the contents.
    5. It is strongly recommended that electronic documents:

      1. have Optical Character Recognition (OCR) applied;
      2. use electronic bookmarks for each entry in the document’s table of contents, including separate individual entries and bookmarks for each affidavit, each exhibit to an affidavit, each witness’s evidence in a transcript, and each exhibit to a transcript;
      3. use hyperlinks to link to publicly available authorities (acts, regulations and case law); while hyperlinks may be used to facilitate navigation within a document, they should not be used to link between documents;
      4. not exceed 100MB in size; if as a matter of necessity they do exceed that limit, the party filing the document shall contact the Registry to make arrangements for filing.

      The Court’s expectation, to be enforced at the discretion of the presiding member of a panel, is that parties represented by counsel will comply with these recommendations.

    6. When referring to a specific point in an electronic document, parties are asked to provide both the page number of the overall PDF document as well as the page number that appears on the page being referred to.

    7. When filing affidavits in electronic format (whether separately or in a record) using the electronic filing system, parties are required to retain the original in their possession until 30 days following the later of the expiry of all appeal periods or the issuance of any final decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the matter. Parties will produce the original affidavit upon request of the Court. Should a party be unable to produce the original affidavit, the copy on the Court file may be ordered removed from the official Court record.

  4. Filing paper documents

    1. Parties who choose to file paper documents must comply with the provisions of the Federal Courts Rules, including the number of copies that must be filed under the Rules.

  5. Filing physical exhibits

    1. A party seeking to file physical exhibits must first bring a motion for directions, proposing a draft direction for consideration by the Court. The draft shall include guidance on the delivery of the exhibit to the Court and its storage and maintenance while in the custody of the Court. Unless the party seeks different terms, the return of the exhibit will be governed by Rule 26.1(2), (3) and (4).

  6. Confidential documents

    1. As this Court maintains a supervisory and protective power over its own record, confidentiality orders made by other courts or tribunals do not bind this Court. Where a party seeks a confidentiality order in this Court, a motion must be brought in this Court. The existence of related confidentiality orders in other courts and tribunals should be brought to the Court’s attention. However, the existence of these orders is not determinative.
    2. Documents subject to a confidentiality order shall comply with the confidentiality order issued by the Court and Rules 151-152 of the Federal Courts Rules and, without qualifying the foregoing, shall:

      1. be in paper form only;
      2. be marked “CONFIDENTIAL”;
      3. be filed in a sealed envelope provided by the parties and labelled in accordance with the confidentiality order; and
      4. be filed with a public version of the documents.

      Electronic documents are at greater risk of inadvertent disclosure. Therefore, the default is that confidential documents may be filed in paper form only.

    3. In the event that a party requests a confidential electronic document to be filed electronically, the party must explain in its motion for a confidentiality order why the electronic document cannot be converted to paper or why it is impractical to do so, and must accept the inherent risk associated with electronic documents.

    4. Confidential documents must not be filed through the Court’s e-filing system. Parties should contact the Registry for assistance.

    5. Where the filing of confidential electronic documents is permitted by the Court’s confidentiality order, the following requirements must be followed:

      1. electronic confidential documents shall be marked “CONFIDENTIAL”;
      2. electronic confidential documents shall be password-encrypted by a party before the party submits the document to the Registry for filing;
      3. the party shall provide the password to the Registry in a separate communication that does not contain the confidential document.
    6. It is recommended that passwords on confidential electronic documents:

      1. be at least 12 characters long;
      2. include symbols, numbers, upper case letters, and lower case letters;
      3. use randomized characters instead of words; and
      4. are not repeated across multiple documents (a new password is used for each new document; variants on the same password should be avoided).
  7. Electronic service

    1. Parties shall include an electronic address for service on all documents filed in proceedings before the Court. An exception is made for parties who do not have reliable, regular access to a computer and email address.

    2. A party who has filed a document that includes an electronic address for service in a proceeding in the Federal Court of Appeal on or after May 26, 2021 will be considered to have consented to electronic service of documents at that address under Rule 141 for the purposes of that proceeding.

    3. A party may revoke their deemed consent to electronic service in a proceeding by serving and filing a notice of withdrawal of consent in accordance with Rule 141(3).

    4. Under Rule 127, whether or not the Registry issues a document electronically, an originating document will in many scenarios still need to be served personally. To that end, a party may require paper copies of the issued document to effect personal service in one of the manners permitted in Rules 128-137. If the party requires paper copies of originating documents to effect personal service, the party must let the Registry know how many copies of documents are needed and whether they would like to pick them up at a Registry office or receive them by mail. The Registry shall not mail or otherwise deliver the copies for service directly to the party to be served.

    5. Rule 133 provides that personal service of an originating document on the Crown, the Attorney General of Canada, or a Minister of the Crown is effected by filing the original document and two paper copies of the document at the Registry. The Administrator transmits a certified copy of the originating document accordingly under Rule 133(2). For originating documents served under Rule 133, the requirement to file two paper copies is waived when parties file electronic documents.

  8. Electronic issuance, seals and signatures

    1. The Registry may issue documents by paper process or electronically.

    2. When issuing documents, the Registry may use the Court’s physical, historic seal in the case of paper documents and the Court’s electronic seal in a form approved by the Chief Justice in the case of electronic documents.

    3. Counsel and parties may sign documents in the following ways:

      1. a traditional personal wet ink signature;
      2. scanned version of a personal wet ink signature;
      3. a stamped version of a personal wet ink signature.
    4. Registry staff may sign or initial documents (as the case may be), in the following ways:

      1. a traditional personal wet ink signature;
      2. a stamped version of a personal wet ink signature;
      3. a personal PKI-encrypted digital signature.

      Improper use, reproduction, imitation, or any other form of mischief involving an electronic seal or signature is a serious matter that will be addressed by the taking of appropriate measures, including orders, directions and recourse to contempt proceedings.

  9. Orders, judgments, reasons and directions

    1. The official version of any order, judgment, reasons or direction issued by the Court shall be electronic or paper depending on the form of the signatures on the document and will be kept in the place or places designated by the Chief Justice.

    2. Reasons for judgment are normally posted on the Court’s website as soon as possible after the Registry has sent a copy thereof to the solicitors of record and any unrepresented party. Where a party is not represented by a solicitor of record, the reasons are sent to the party with a request that an acknowledgment of receipt be provided to the Registry. The reasons may be posted to the Court’s website immediately after a copy is sent by the Registry to any solicitors of record and any unrepresented parties, and should be posted no later than two days after it is sent.

  10. Access to Court documents and recordings of proceedings

    1. On occasion, persons may request certified copies of any document from the official Court record, including orders, judgments, reasons or directions. These certified copies may be in paper or electronic format. Unless otherwise ordered or directed by the Court, certified copies created by the Registry may be transmitted, emailed, printed, photocopied, or otherwise reproduced as long as the information contained in the document remains unaltered.

    2. On occasion, persons may request non-certified copies of court documents. Unless an order or direction prohibits it, the contents of a court file are normally listed on the Court’s website. Upon request by a member of the public, the Registry shall provide electronic copies of documents from a court file if the documents are readily available in electronic format. Documents may be provided by email or a reliable electronic file sharing platform. In order to keep requests reasonable and allow court business to proceed unhindered, the Registry reserves the right to restrict the number of documents provided to any one person to five documents in any one-month period. Bulk requests for court documents will not be entertained at this time.

    3. Court hearings are recorded unless the Court has ordered otherwise. On occasion, persons request access to digital audio recordings of court proceedings. The following shall govern access to digital audio recordings of court proceedings:

      1. Parties may obtain a copy of the audio recording of their proceeding, if available, upon request. Media organizations and members of the public will be authorized, upon request, to listen to an audio recording, if they were entitled to be present in the courtroom for that proceeding. A court order is required before media organizations and members of the public are able to obtain a copy of an audio recording.
      2. In the case of oral reasons for judgment, the reasons will be redacted from the audio recording.
      3. Where access restrictions apply during the hearing (e.g., as a result of a confidentiality order), the confidential information will be redacted from the audio recording. The audio recording will not be released if it is not possible to redact the confidential information.
      4. Exceptionally, there may also be situations where protected communications (e.g., between solicitor and client) are inadvertently recorded. Parties and their legal counsel should exercise prudence when having such discussions close to the hearing room microphones, which are sensitive. Any concerns about a recording should be brought as soon as possible to the attention of the Court.
      5. To request access to the audio recording of a hearing, the requestor should complete the request form available on the Court’s website and submit it to their local Registry office.
      6. Copyright in audio recordings of hearings vests in and remains the property of His Majesty the King in right of Canada. Reproduction, broadcast or distribution of any recording of Court proceedings is prohibited.
  11. Hearings

    1. Hearings are fixed by the Judicial Administrator in accordance with the instructions given by the Chief Justice. To preserve the efficient and effective allocation of the Court's time, as well as that of parties, Requisitions for Hearing are required to include each party’s estimate of the time needed for their hearing, and indicate the duration of the hearing in the Court or Tribunal that rendered the decision being appealed or judicially reviewed.

    2. Appeals and applications are heard in person while motions proceed in writing.

    3. The Court will consider requests for virtual hearings and hybrid hearings (when a party appears in person and another appears remotely) on a case-by-case basis and may authorise them in exceptional circumstances or when the interest of justice so requires.

    4. Should public health considerations or other emergent circumstances require it, the Court may convert some or all in-person hearings to virtual or hybrid hearings on a temporary basis.

    5. The Court provides written advance notice on its website of dates it proposes to hold sittings at various cities across Canada. Parties and their counsel whose appeals or applications are pending should take note of these periods when planning their own availability.

    6. For the purposes of virtual hearings, the Court may use a platform operated by a foreign entity. Thus, it is possible that audio and video from the Court’s hearings may transit and/or reside outside of Canada at least temporarily, by virtue of servers that may be located outside of Canada.

    7. If a proceeding will deal with matters sufficiently sensitive that hearing audio or video should not transit outside Canada, parties should raise this with the Court at the earliest possible time. Depending on the circumstances, the usual conferencing platform may not be appropriate for the confidential portion of a hearing and additional mitigating steps may need to be taken.

    8. Once a hearing date is fixed, adjournments will be rarely granted, even on consent. As soon as the reasons for an adjournment request are known to a party, the party must write to the Registry setting out the details of the adjournment request and the reasons for it. The Court may, in its discretion, require a formal motion with evidentiary support in order to decide whether to grant an adjournment.

    9. Motions for an expedited hearing should be made when the originating document is filed or as soon as possible after that time.

    10. The composition of the panel hearing an appeal or application will be available through the Registry two weeks before the hearing. The composition of the panel is subject to change up until the start of the hearing.

    11. The public may attend and observe in-person hearings. Where technology is in place, the Court will take steps to facilitate virtual access to hearings by members of the public. Information on how to obtain virtual access is available on the Court’s website.

    12. The Courts Administration Service conducts security screening of on-site court visitors and their belongings to ensure that the Court remains a safe and secure environment. All visitors to the Court, including lawyers, parties, witnesses, media, and observers will be subject to the security screening process and must consent to screening as a condition of in-person access to the Court. Parties and counsel are thus encouraged to arrive at least thirty minutes before the scheduled time of their hearing. Information about the screening process and a list of prohibited items is available on the Courts Administration Service website.

    13. Counsel are required to gown for all appeals and judicial reviews before the Court. Business attire may be worn when appearing on motions other than contempt of Court motions or motions that proceed before a three-judge panel. Counsel who appear before the Court may modify their traditional court attire in order to accommodate a pregnancy, medical condition, or disability. Alternative attire should be dark and in keeping with Court decorum. Counsel are invited to inform the registry officer assigned to the hearing prior to the start of a hearing if they have modified their attire in accordance with this paragraph so that panel members may be informed ahead of the hearing.

    1. 1The Court invites counsel and parties to provide information about the correct pronunciation of their names (phonetic or syllabic spelling), titles (Dr., Mrs., Mr., Ms., Miss, Mx., etc.) and pronouns (she, he, they, etc.) during the course of proceedings. This information should be included in the requisition for hearing and updated as necessary so as to allow the Registry to supply the information to the Court when preparing the counsel slip.

    1. Articling students may appear in the Court where they are permitted to do so by the laws or regulations in force in the province or territory in which the hearing takes place. The Federal Court of Appeal will follow the professional regulations of the law societies of each province and territory, subject to the discretion of the presiding judge (or panel) to suspend or postpone a case if the interests of the party so represented are not adequately protected. An articling student appearing before the Court must proactively identify themselves as an “articling student” at the outset of a hearing.

    2. Judges of the Federal Court of Appeal may be addressed as “Justice” or “Justice [last name].”

    3. When referring to a point within a document at a hearing, parties should provide both the page number of the overall PDF document as well as the page number that appears on the page.

  12. Miscellaneous matters

    • Designation of the Sovereign

      1. Following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III on September 8, 2022, where the Crown is a party to a proceeding, parties shall use “His Majesty the King” rather than “Her Majesty the Queen.” With respect to pending matters, the designation will be considered to have been so altered without the need to bring a motion to amend the style of cause.

    • Suspension Periods

      1. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court created a mechanism, the “Suspension Period,” that enabled the normal computation of time to be paused under the Rules and orders of the Court in specific files for set periods of time. This mechanism is useful during periods of serious disruption when the Registry cannot process the usual volume of incoming filings. The Registry may use this mechanism when directed by the Chief Justice. When such a direction is made, a notice to the profession will be issued and the public will be notified by notice published on the Court’s website.

      2. Under this mechanism, files can be “activated” or “deactivated.” When the Registry opens a file, it is automatically “activated”. For an activated file, time runs normally. When a file is “deactivated,” the computation of time under the Rules and orders of the Court pauses until the file is “activated” again. Files that are deactivated are listed on a Deactivated Files List updated periodically on the Court’s website and time runs again from the date when notice is given that the file is activated once again and removed from the Deactivated Files List.

      3. Parties who desire their file to be activated once again and removed from the Deactivated Files List may bring an informal motion (e.g., by filing a letter with the Registry). If the request is opposed, the time limits in Rules 365(1)(b) and 369.2(3) apply to any responses or replies.

    • Continuation of Pilot Project on Procedural Bijuralism

      1. The pilot project on procedural bijuralism that was launched on November 28, 2019 by both the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court continues. This project allows for the application of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure, with the necessary adaptations, in actions in which all parties are represented by members of the Barreau du Québec.

      2. The Court continues to invite parties who are intending to file a proceeding and who are in contact with a respondent represented by legal counsel who is a member of the Barreau du Québec to obtain their consent to be part of the pilot project. In the alternative, a respondent in a proceeding undertaken by legal counsel who is a member of the Barreau du Québec is encouraged to seek consent to proceed pursuant to the pilot project so that an answer can be filed in accordance with sections 145 and 147 of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure. Judicial reviews and class proceedings are not eligible for prosecution under the pilot project.

      3. The following requirements apply to matters that proceed as part of the pilot project:

        1. The parties must be represented by legal counsel who is a member of the Barreau du Québec;
        2. The parties agree in writing that the action will be subject to the pilot project;
        3. A case protocol must be filed in accordance with section 148 of the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure;
        4. The proceedings will include " PILOT PROJECT – BIJURALISM QUEBEC" in bold in their header;
        5. Each of the proceedings that are part of the pilot project will be under special case management. A case management judge will be appointed for each file in the pilot project. The case management judge may, on application or of his or her own motion, summon the parties to a case management conference if he or she deems it necessary and will be responsible for approving the case protocol prepared by the parties or for establishing the protocol if the parties do not cooperate or do not reach an agreement;
        6. The case management judge will also be responsible for ruling on applications brought in the course of a proceeding. In such a case, the parties will communicate with the case management judge to determine the method in which and/or the date on which the application will be argued during the course of a proceeding. The case management judge may also make this determination in a case management conference, namely any conference that may be held to approve the case protocol;
        7. In a proceeding that is part of the pilot project, with the exception of registry fees payable to the registry office, the legal costs set out in the Quebec Code of Civil Procedure will apply unless the parties agree otherwise in writing;
        8. In the event that a decision of the Federal Court made in the proceeding under the pilot project is appealed, the pilot project will also apply in the Federal Court of Appeal. The appeal will also be under special case management.
        9. At trial and on appeal, the Federal Courts Act and the Canada Evidence Act continue to apply to actions within the scope of the pilot project.

        For more information about the pilot project, please refer to the consent form and information document for the parties found on the websites of the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal.

    • National Security Certificates under section 38.13 of the Canada Evidence Act

      1. Pursuant to section 38.131(1) of the Canada Evidence Act, a party to the proceeding referred to in section 38.13(1) in which a certificate is issued may apply to the Court for an order varying or cancelling the certificate. There is no timeframe within which such an application is to be made. However, once an application is brought, section 38.131(7) requires that it be considered by the Court no later than ten days from the making of the application.

      2. In order to enable the Court to consider an application brought pursuant to section 38.131(1) within this strict timeline, and to ensure the presence of an amicus curiae if need be, the parties to a proceeding in which a certificate is filed must file a letter with the Registry as soon as possible providing the following information:

        1. Whether an application for an order varying or cancelling the certificate is contemplated by any party;
        2. If so, the time when this application is expected to be made;
        3. Whether arrangements for an amicus curiae are in place so as to allow his or her immediate participation upon the filing of the application; and
        4. Whether there is any other matter that should be brought to the Court's attention.
    • Condensed Books and Compendia

      1. Parties sometimes seek to file, and the presiding member of a panel sometimes directs that parties provide, condensed books or compendia as litigation aids.

      2. Unless directed by the presiding member of a panel, these materials are not mandatory. They are often helpful.

      3. A condensed book (sometimes referred to as a “day book”) is as described in Rule 348.1: extracts from the appeal book and book of statutes, regulations and authorities that a party will refer to in oral argument. It is sometimes accompanied by a brief summary of the points a party plans to make in oral argument. It is filed and provided to the Court on the day of the hearing. For in-person hearings, an electronic copy must be submitted for filing to the Registry before the start of the hearing and three paper copies handed up to the panel at a hearing. Copies must be provided to all other parties before the hearing as well.

      4. A compendium is a collection of materials referred to in a memorandum of fact and law. It is most helpful if filed at the same time as the memorandum.

      5. [repealed]

      6. Condensed books and compendia do not contain new evidence or augment argument; they simply condense or organize materials or arguments that can be found elsewhere on the record.

    • Correspondence

      1. Correspondence should always be sent to the Registry rather than sent to specific members of the Court. If the correspondence is sent in response to a direction or request by a member of the Court, the correspondence should include this detail.

    • Interpretation

      1. There is sometimes confusion between the “Administrator” and the “Judicial Administrator”. These are different persons performing different functions. To be clear,

        1. Where this Direction refers to the “Judicial Administrator”, “Judicial Administrator” has the same meaning as set out in s. 14 of the Federal Courts Act;
        2. Where this Direction refers to the “Administrator”, “Administrator” has the same meaning as set out in Rule 2 of the Federal Courts Rules.
    • Replacement of past Practice Direction

      1. This Direction repeals and replaces the following document:

        • Consolidated Practice Direction – June 1, 2023
    • Retention of documents

      1. The document listed immediately above shall be removed from the Court’s website on the date of this Direction. The Registry shall maintain an electronic copy of the document for a period of 10 years, after which time it may be destroyed. Anyone requiring a copy of the above document may make a request to the Registry before the retention period expires.

      2. [repealed]

“Yves de Montigny”
Chief Justice
Federal Court of Appeal

Index

All references are to paragraphs.

Date modified: