Please be advised that the interest rate for awards under section 4(2) of the Judgment Interest Act has been set at 0.20 per cent for the period of Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2022.

In early December, the Court had a backlog of approximately 900 Immigration (IMM) matters for which the Application for Leave and for Judicial Review was dismissed but the certificate of Order not yet issued. The backlog covered decisions issued by the Court between July and December 2021. Due to limited Registry staff, the IMM Division of the Registry had been prioritizing the processing of (i) incoming applications for leave, (ii) leave granted Orders, and (iii) the SharePoint process (which provides simpler access for parties to the Certified Tribunal Records). However, to provide parties with earlier notice of leave dismissed Orders, the Registry has adopted the interim measures described below.

In brief, to ensure that parties are able to confirm the Court decision online in a timely manner, decisions dismissed by the Court are now being entered in the docket and are accessible on the Federal Court’s website. The docket entry is being dated according to the original decision date, rather than the date that the online docket was updated. Although these updates to the online docket have now been completed for the entire backlog of 900 IMM files, the Certificate of Order for these files will be sent to parties at a later time and will show the date it was prepared. The processing backlog for these Certificates of Order should be resolved by the end of March 2022.

Settlement Discussions in Proceedings Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act

To assist with the efficient resolution of Applications for Leave and Judicial Review brought under section 72 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the Court developed procedures to facilitate settlement discussions between parties in appropriate cases. Following a pilot in proceedings arising in Toronto, the procedures are now being applied since Oct. 4 on a national basis.

Until leave is granted and the certified tribunal record (CTR) is available, counsel may not be well-positioned to provide advice to, and receive instructions from, their clients regarding possible settlement. Given that the CTR is usually not available until at least 21 days after leave is granted, this delays consideration being given to settlement. By the time settlement discussions are initiated and a settlement reached, scarce judicial resources have already been spent in preparation for the hearing. Furthermore, when an application settles shortly before the hearing, it is often not possible to reassign the judge to hear another matter, resulting in wasted Court resources and overall scheduling delays – contrary to the statutory mandate to hear applications “without delay.” In order to make efficient use of available public resources, settlement discussions should begin, and be concluded, much sooner. Read more.

Federal and provincial health restrictions continue in effect to protect the health system and slow the spread of COVID-19. Measures continue in light of the increasing case counts, rise in variants, the ongoing risk to Justice participants, and the increased difficulties in having counsel, parties and witnesses attend in Court, effective Jan. 4, 2022 and for the weeks of Jan. 4, Jan. 10 and Jan. 17, 2022, and subject to any further adjustments that may be required. Read more.

Per the Court's Announcement of Dec.31, 2021 regarding additional measures to limit traffic at court facilities, please see Master Order #6, which governs court operations for the period of Jan. 4 to 21, 2022.

The Court will continue to conduct Bar Admissions remotely via Webex.

Bar Admissions are conducted by a Duty Justice. In some circumstances, arrangements can be made with a specific Justice to conduct a Bar Admission, provided there is sufficient reason and available resources to do so. Read more.

In response to the increase in COVID-19 cases and specifically the spread of the Omicron variant in the province, the Provincial Court of Alberta is implementing these measures, effective Jan. 4, 2022.

Revised protocols will be updated to the COVID-19 Court Information Page as soon as available.

The Minister of Justice and Solicitor General is seeking applications from individuals interested in serving as the Chief of the Commission and Tribunals for the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The deadline to apply is Jan. 10, 2022.