On December 20, 2023, the Federal Court published the Amended Consolidated General Practice Guidelines (the “Guidelines”), which can be found here.
The last Consolidated General Practice Guidelines were published in June 2022.
Many of these new Guidelines are reminiscent of the Federal Court of Appeal’s recent Consolidated Guidelines from June of last year, which can be found here.
The Court notes that these Consolidated General Practice Guidelines are to be read in conjunction with the following consolidated guidelines:
- Case and Trial Management Guidelines for Complex Proceedings and Proceedings under the PM(NOC) Regulations;
- Practice Guidelines for Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Law Proceedings; and
- Aboriginal Litigation Practice Guidelines (4th Edition).
In the event of a conflict between the new Guidelines and the guidelines listed in paragraphs (a) to (c) above, the guidelines listed in paragraphs (a) to (c) above take precedence.
Of particular note,
- These Guidelines replace many past Practices, Notices, and Documents, listed at page 23 of the Guidelines;
- There is an updated list of members of the Chambers at Annex A, page 25 of the Guidelines; and,
- There is a list of local registry office email address at Annex B, page 26 of Guidelines.
Below is a summary of some of the key amendments and some friendly reminders from previous practice directions:
- Para 4, Use of Pronoun and Pronunciation of Names: The Court invites counsel, parties and witnesses to provide information about the correct pronunciation of their names, titles, and pronouns prior to and at the outset of proceedings.
- Para 5, Land Acknowledgements: Prior to the commencement of any matter in Court, parties, counsel and witnesses may honour the lands (and peoples) upon which the legal proceeding is taking place by way of a land acknowledgement. While the Court respects the practice of parties, counsel and witnesses expressing a land acknowledgement, the Court must remain neutral, as it is often required to determine the substantive or legal rights of parties involved in litigation surrounding lands and/or rights associated with lands.
- Para 16, Official Court Record: As of December 20, 2023, the official Court record 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.
- Para 18, E-filing:
- For filing electronic versions of confidential documents, one acceptable procedure is to submit a password-protected PDF or a secure electronic file transfer to the appropriate e-mail address set forth in Annex B (page 26). The password or instructions shall be provided separately to the Registry by email or telephone, as appropriate.
- Electronic files must display page numbers on each page in the file, consecutively numbered, and beginning with the first page of the PDF file, so that PDF page numbers correspond with the electronic document page number. Pinpoint references to those page numbers shall be provided when referring to such materials in written submissions.
- Bookmarks shall be included in all electronic files that contain more than one document.
- The Memorandum of Fact and Law or Memorandum of Argument shall include hyperlinks to all cases, articles, statutes and other materials available on public and free websites, where possible.
- If parties file their documents electronically and provide hyperlinks (including pinpoint citations) for all cases that are included in their Memorandum, along with an alphabetical index to the list of cases cited, this shall be deemed to constitute a book of authorities, and parties are thereby relieved from the obligation to prepare a separate book of authorities pursuant to Rule 70(1)(g) of the Federal Courts Rules.
- Before filing electronic documents that include scanned content or images, parties shall process the document with an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) application.
- Paras 33-34, Filing Proof of Service: Where service is effected by email, a copy of the email must be attached to the affidavit of service or solicitor’s certificate of service in order for the Registry to verify that service was effected before 5:00 p.m. at the recipient’s local time (Rule 143 of the Federal Courts Rules).
- Para 35, Virtual Commissioning: Pursuant to s. 53(2) of the Federal Courts Act, and subject always to the discretion of the Court to apply the best evidence requirements, affidavits sworn or affirmed remotely using modes deemed acceptable in any Superior Court of any province or territory will be accepted for filing until further notice. For greater certainty, all affidavits must be sworn or affirmed. A scanned version of an affidavit may be accepted for filing, provided that the original version is filed with the Court if specifically ordered or directed by the Court.
- Para 37, Access to Paper Copies of Court Records: Members of the general public seeking access to documents on the Court record may request copies of non-confidential documents by writing to their local Registry office. See list of e-mail addresses in the Annex B. Members of the media may request copies at this address (fc_reception_cf@cas-satj.gc.ca).
- Para 39, Access to Electronic Documents: Due to resource limitations, the Registry reserves the right to restrict the number of documents requested by any person.
- Paras 61-65, Mode of Hearing:
- All hearings on the merits are presumptively scheduled to be heard in-person.
- All non-urgent motions with an estimated duration in excess of two (2) hours are presumptively scheduled to be heard in-person.
- Effective February 1, 2024, only applications under the Citizenship Act and motions scheduled to be heard for a duration of two (2) hours or less (including motions scheduled for General Sittings and urgent motions) will remain presumptively scheduled to be heard remotely.
- The Court encourages parties to all modes of hearings to proceed on the basis of an electronic record, subject to the availability of any electronic equipment.
- The Court will require electronic copies of all documents that are necessary for any telephone or videoconference hearing.
- The Court is in the process of adapting its facilities across the country to ensure that parties have the option of conducting in-person hearings on the basis of either a paper record or an electronic record.
- Paras 68-69, Oral Advocacy:
- Counsel are encouraged to be prepared to highlight their arguments and direct the Court to relevant jurisprudence, instead of simply reading a prepared script or repeating their written submissions. In addition, they should be prepared to answer questions and to reply to the submissions of opposing counsel.
- The Court welcomes hearing from less experienced counsel and counsel who are members of communities underrepresented in the legal profession, and encourages senior counsel to share opportunities for oral advocacy with their less experienced colleagues.
- Para 70, Preparation of a Compendium for a Court Hearing:
- For the hearing on the merits of an application, parties are encouraged in appropriate cases to prepare a short compendium containing key excerpts from their record on which they intend to rely at the hearing and provide it to both the Court and opposing counsel no later than three (3) business days before the hearing.
- For actions, the topic of a compendium should be discussed at the pre-trial conference.
- Para 74, Costs: During the hearing of a motion, application or action, the parties should be prepared to inform the Court as to whether they have agreed on the disposition and/or quantum of costs. If the parties have not settled the disposition and/or quantum of costs, they should be prepared to make submissions on those issues to the presiding judge or associate judge before the end of the hearing.
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