Wednesday, December 20, 2023, 12:30 p.m.
Room 95 & Video Conference, Supreme Court of Canada
Present
- Chantal Carbonneau (Chair)
- Cristina Damiani
- Barbara Kincaid
- Lesli Takahashi (Secretary)
- Stéphanie Bachand
- Renée Maria Tremblay (Zoom)
- François Lacasse
- Gib van Ert
- Corey Villeneuve
- Lynne Watt
- Marion Sandilands
- Marie-France Major (Zoom)
- Christopher Rupar
- Jean-Simon Schoenholz (Zoom)
- Moira Dillon (Zoom)
- Nadia Effendi (Zoom)
- Margaret Truesdale
- Gordon B. Greenwood (Zoom)
- Sylvie Labbé (Zoom)
1. Agenda
The agenda was approved.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the meeting of September 13, 2023
The minutes were approved.
3. Winter 2024 session
The Court will hear 13 cases in the winter session. The Court will sit for one week in January and February and for two weeks in March.
Counsel for the principal parties will appear in person or via Zoom, if requested. Counsel for interveners will continue to appear via Zoom. All parties will continue to be provided with Zoom links in case counsel is unable to appear in person on the day of the hearing.
4. Amendments to the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada
The first draft of the amendments has been prepared by the Justice drafters. Comments will be returned to Justice by December 29. A discussion draft will be provided to the Committee members once available.
A definition of “electronic filing portal” has been added to the definition section (Rule 2).
Target in force date for the amendments is June 3, 2024.
A notice to the profession will be sent out when new amendments come into force.
5. Intervention procedure
There had been a request to have a presentation on the processing of motions for leave to intervene, similar to the March 2023 presentation on applications for leave to appeal.
Barbara Kincaid provided an overview of the process. The Court’s practice is to deal with all applications for intervention in one order. The rota judge will receive all material filed, a memorandum from Law Branch and a draft order. While there is a wide discretion in dealing with motions for leave to intervene, all motions are considered carefully by the rota judge in light of the factors set out in Rule 57 and the 2021 Notice to the Profession.
The order sets out the filing dates for the interveners’ materials, considering that all documents must be filed one month prior to the hearing and will set out the time allocated to each intervener for oral argument. The counsel sheet often places the intervener after the party whose position the intervener supports. In cases that span more than one day, the interveners may be assigned to the second day.
6. Format of factums – compliance checks
The hard copy of factums for the winter 2024 session will be verified for compliance with all the requirements of the Rules and Guidelines.
Counsel can expect to be advised by the Registry if a factum is not compliant and we will request amended copies. For the time being, the Registrar will not refuse factums for filing, apart from those that are over the page limit.
Extensions of time will not be requested if the amended factum is filed within a reasonable period of time.
7. Condensed books
A reminder that the Guidelines for filing provide that the printed and electronic versions of a condensed book must be filed with the Court at least 2 business days prior to the hearing of the appeal.
Please advise the Registry if a party will not be filing a condensed book.
8. Varia
a. National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
When the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation falls on a weekend, as it did this past September, the deadlines for filing continue to run the following Monday. The Interpretation Act, s. 35(1) provides that:
holiday means any of the following days, namely … National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, which is observed on September 30.
Even if the Registry office is closed, documents are accepted through the Electronic Filing Portal and the secure lockers at the East Entrance.
b. Interveners at the hearing
The question of permitting interveners’ counsel the option to appear in person rather than by Zoom was raised. The Registrar undertook to bring the comments back to the Court.
9. Next meeting
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 12:30 p.m., in Room 95 and via Zoom.