Federal Court of Canada

The Federal Court released its 2020-2025 Strategic Plan. The Court outlines two main objectives in its Plan: significantly increasing access to justice (which includes an update about e-filing and electronic services at the Court), and enhancing the ability of the Court to serve the public across Canada.

The Federal Court put out a Practice Direction and Order. The Court will be allowing the Suspension Period described in its June 11th practice direction to expire in Ontario, Quebec, and the territories at the end of the day on June 29th (today). The Court will not hold hearings in Ontario, Quebec, or the territories until July 27th and timelines for filing documents and taking other procedural steps are extended to July 13th.

July 9: The Federal Court released an Amendment to the Court's June 25th Order. The amendment states that timelines for the filing of documents remain suspended during the 2-week buffer period and the requirement to file a printed copy of an e-filed affidavit is vacated.

The Federal Court will be hosting a free webinar on digitizing and e-filing documents on April 28 from 12pm-1:30 pm EST. This webinar will feature best practices and practical tips for digitizing submissions.

All Federal Court hearings, including telephone conference hearings, that were previously scheduled between now and April 17, 2020 are being adjourned sine die. All General Sittings that were scheduled to take place between now and April 17, 2020 have been cancelled.