Federal Court / Federal Court of Appeal

The Federal Court of Canada was established in 1971 as the successor to the Exchequer Court of Canada which had been created in 1875.

A major reason for the new Court's creation was the increase in the number of federal boards and commissions and the realization that a national court was needed to review the decisions of the administrative tribunals. Speaking in the House of Commons when the legislation to create the new Court was being debated, Justice Minister Turner stated that the Federal Court would serve to balance the rights of the citizen and the state by providing recourse against bigness, alienation and distance from the decision-making power.

The Federal Court Act was recently amended by the Courts Administration Service Act, which came into force on July 2, 2003. The two divisions of the Federal Court became a separate court of appeal, continued under the name "Federal Court of Appeal", and a trial court, continued under the name "Federal Court". The short title of the Act is now the Federal Courts Act. To reflect these legislative changes, the Federal Court Reports, the official reports of the two courts was continued under the name "Federal Courts Reports" commencing with 2004, Volume 1. At the same time, the citation was changed to "F.C.R." to avoid confusion with the new neutral citation used by the Federal Court.

The jurisdiction of the Federal Court extends not only to judicial review but also to: actions by and against the Crown, admiralty, customs, labour relations, intellectual property law (patents, copyright, trade marks and industrial designs), and citizenship and immigration. The Federal Court of Appeal hears appeals from the Federal Court and the Tax Court of Canada, and has jurisdiction to determine applications for judicial review from federal boards, commissions and tribunals listed in Federal Courts Act, section 28. The complexity of cases litigated in the Federal Courts has increased over the years for a number of reasons, most notably enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The volume of litigation has grown steadily and in recent years Convention refugee appeals have come before the Court in great numbers.

Federal Courts Reports

Editor

Section 58 of the Federal Courts Act provides that the Minister of Justice shall appoint or designate "a fit and proper person to be editor of the official reports of the decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court" and further provides that "only the decisions or the parts of them that, in the editor's opinion, are of sufficient significance or importance to warrant publication in the reports" shall be included therein. The current editor of the reports, Patricia L. Pritchard, is a member of the Ontario bar and, prior to her current appointment, served as Legal Editor of the reports since 1981.

Advisory Commitee

S. 58 further provides that the Minister "may appoint a committee of not more than five persons to advise the editor". Such Advisory Committee was established late in 1999, the members therof being: Martin W. Mason, of the Ottawa office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (advisor on Administrative and Constitutional law); Douglas H. Mathew of Thorsteinssons, Tax Lawyers; A. David Morrow of Smart & Biggar (Intellectual Property law); Suzanne Thibaudeau, Q.C., who is with the Montreal office of the law firm Heenan Blaikie (advisor on Labour and Human Rights law and on the Quebec Civil Code) and Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman of Jackman, Waldman & Associates, whose practice is restricted to Immigration law. The editor still deals, unassisted, with more than 1,700 judgments per year but now is able to call upon these prominent practitioners for an opinion to assist in the selection process in respect of cases which fall within their particular expertise. In recent years, the Reports section has received from the Court's distribution office between 1,900 and 2,200 cases annually.

Federal Courts Reports Internet Service

The purposes of the Federal Courts Reports Internet Service are (1) to make available, in the most timely way possible, all decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and of the Federal Court appearing in the official reports series whether in full text or as digests. Prior to their publication in the Federal Courts Reports, these cases undergo a thorough editorial process which includes: copyediting and reference verification by Legal Research Editors; legal editing (the preparation of captions, headnotes, lists of cases, statutes and authors judicially considered as well as translation accuracy confirmation) done by Legal Editors who are members of the legal profession and proofreading by Editorial Assistants. (2) This Internet service also provides, in electronic format, the full contents of the Reports for the Volume years 1993 to date. Reported cases normally appear in the printed version of the Federal Courts Reports some six months after being handed down. As provided for in subsection 58(4) of the Federal Courts Act, all materials published in the Reports are in both official languages.

Subscription to the Federal Courts Reports may be purchased from:

Publishing and Depository Services
Public Works and Government Services Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0S5

Tel: 1-800-635-7943 (Canada & US)
Tel: (613) 941-5995

Fax: 1-800-565-7757 (Canada & US)
Fax: (613) 954-5779

E-mail: publications@pwgsc.gc.ca

The Federal Courts Reports are published by the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs, David Gourdeau, LL.B., Commissioner. The decisions and reasons for decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and of the Federal Court fall within the terms of the Reproduction of Federal Law Order. P.C. 1996-1995, December 19, 1996, S1/97-5, and may be reproduced in whole or in part and by any means, without further permission. The headnotes and other editorial features do not fall within the terms of the Reproduction of Federal Law Order. The Crown in right of Canada owns the copyright therein.