Annual Report 2007-2008

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Letter from the Chief Administrator
to the Minister of Justice

September 30, 2008

The Honourable Robert Nicholson
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
284 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Dear Minister:

Pursuant to subsection 12(1) of the Courts Administration Service Act, I am pleased to submit the fifth annual report on the activities of the Courts Administration Service for the 2007-2008 fiscal year.

The report presents an overview of the Service's activities and accomplishments from the beginning of April 2007 to the end of March 2008. It also conveys the important work accomplished by the Service's employees in providing quality registry and administrative services to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada.

Yours truly,

R.P. Guenette
Chief Administrator

Message from the Chief Administrator

I am honoured to present this Annual Report outlining the accomplishments of the Courts Administration Service (the Service) for 2007-2008. As the year concludes, I firmly believe that CAS continues to progress and improve in the fulfillment of its mandate as outlined in the Courts Administration Service Act.

During the past year, the Service continued to focus on modernization and technology. The Service's e-filing initiative was broadened to include an increased number of proceedings, thereby facilitating access to the courts by various stakeholders. A variety of "e-projects" was also initiated with a view to developing a common Case Management System that will service the four courts supported by the Service.

The organizational structure of the Service was also finalized with the permanent staffing of key senior positions, and particularly that of the Deputy Chief Administrator, Registry Services, who oversees registry and regional operations. With its organizational structure firmly in place, the Service is optimally positioned to keep moving forward.

During the course of the year, the Service was involved in a number of cross-departmental initiatives such as the provision of certain forms of support to Special Advocates pursuant to Bill C-3, and the electronic filing of Income Tax and GST certificates by selected regional offices of the Canada Revenue Agency. Such cross-departmental initiatives are new to the Service, but represent exciting opportunities.

All these results are very positive and place the Service as a world leader in courts' administration. Ongoing visits and exchanges with Russian, Ukrainian and Chinese judicial delegations continue to attest to the Service's leadership position.

As we look ahead, we can be proud of the accomplishments of the past year, confident that they form part of the foundation upon which CAS may continue to build.

 

Raymond P. Guenette

Table of Content

The Courts Administration Service - An Overview

The Service in Brief

Our Vision, Our Priorities

The Courts

Registry Services
Operational Training
Technology and Re-Engineering in Case Management
Review of processes within Registry Services
Bill C-3 and Special Advocates

Judicial Services

Corporate Services
Human Resources

The Service broadens its horizons
Canada-Ukraine
Canada-China

Appendices

Financial Reports

How to Contact the Service

The Courts in Statistics

Glossary

The Courts Administration Service - An Overview

The Service in Brief

The role of the Service is to provide registry, judicial and corporate services to four courts of law - the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada.

These services make it easier for individuals, companies, organizations, and the Government of Canada to submit disputes and other matters to the courts. They also enable the courts to hear and resolve the cases before them fairly, expeditiously and as efficiently as possible.

The mandate of the Service

• to ensure the effective and efficient provision of services to the four courts;
• to enhance the judicial independence of the courts by placing them at arm's length from the Government of Canada; and
• to enhance accountability for the use of public money.

The functions of the Service

• providing litigants and their counsel with services relating to court hearings;
• informing litigants about rules of practice, court directives and procedures;
• maintaining court records;
• acting as liaison between the judiciary, the legal profession and lay litigants;
• processing documents filed by or issued to litigants;
• recording all proceedings;
• serving as the entity where individuals seeking enforcement of decisions made by the courts and federal administrative tribunals, such as the Canada Industrial Relations Board and the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, may file pertinent documents; and
• providing judges, prothonotaries and staff with library services, appropriate facilities and security;
• providing support services to the judiciary.

Powers and functions of the Chief Administrator

• effective and efficient management and administration of all court services, including court facilities, libraries, corporate services and staffing;
• structuring registry operations and preparing budgets, in consultation with the chief justices of the four courts, for the requirements of those courts and the related needs of the Service.

Our Vision, Our Priorities

The Service's mission is one of excellence. We work daily towards the ultimate goal of offering a single point of service, in both official languages, while enhancing the judicial independence of the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada.

The Service's mission is to be recognized as a national and international model of excellence in the administration of justice. We also ensure that Canadians are able to have access, as quickly as possible, to an efficient, fair and precise process for dispute resolution in each of the courts that we serve.

The Courts

Established in 2003 when the Courts Administration Service Act (CAS Act) came into force, the Service has the mandate to provide efficient registry and administrative services to the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada.

The four courts served by the Service are superior courts of record. All of these courts were created by the Parliament of Canada pursuant to its authority under section 101 of the Constitution Act, 1867 to establish courts "for the better administration of the Laws of Canada."

Federal Court of Appeal

The Federal Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to hear appeals from decisions of the Federal Court and the Tax Court of Canada and certain other statutory appeals. It also has exclusive jurisdiction to hear and determine applications for judicial review of decisions of 16 federal boards, commissions and tribunals listed in section 28 of the Federal Courts Act. Parties to a proceeding in the Federal Court of Appeal may be granted leave, or permission, to appeal a decision of the Federal Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada if the case involves a question of public importance. Pursuant to section 5(1) of the Federal Courts Act, the full judicial complement of the Federal Court of Appeal consists of the Chief Justice and 12 other judges. For further information on the Federal Court of Appeal, please refer to www.fca-caf.gc.ca.

Federal Court

The Federal Court is a trial court. It has original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over cases by and against the Crown (including Aboriginal law claims), and proceedings involving admiralty law and intellectual property law. It also has exclusive jurisdiction over national security proceedings and appeals under 110 federal statutes, as well as applications for judicial review of the decisions of all federal boards, commissions and tribunals other than those over which the Federal Court of Appeal has jurisdiction. This jurisdiction includes, in parti-cular, applications for judicial review of decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board. Pursuant to section 5.1(1) of the Federal Courts Act, the full judicial complement of the Federal Court consists of the Chief Justice and 32 other full-time judges. For further information on the Federal Court, please refer to www.fct-cf.gc.ca.

Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada

The main function of the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada is to hear appeals from courts martial, which are military courts established under the National Defence Act and which hear cases under the Code of Service Discipline found in Parts III and VII of that Act. Certain judges of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, as well as incumbent trial and appellate judges of the provincial superior courts, are members of this Court. For further information on the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada, please refer to www.cmac-cacm.ca.

Tax Court of Canada

The Tax Court of Canada is a specialized court of law that decides matters involving taxpayers and the federal taxation authorities. The Court enables taxpayers and businesses to resolve disputes arising from such issues as payment of an income tax amount, goods and services tax rebates, and eligibility for employment insurance benefits and the Canada Pension Plan. There are two separate appeal procedures at the Tax Court of Canada: the general and the informal. Under the general procedure, formalities play an important role and many rules of procedure must be followed at all stages of the appeal process. The informal appeal procedure allows for simplified rules of procedure and more flexible evidence rules than under the general procedure. For further information on the Tax Court of Canada, please refer to www.tcc-cci.gc.ca.

The Judges

On March 31, 2008, the Federal Court of Appeal consisted of the Chief Justice, 10 judges and 3 supernumerary judges.

The Federal Court consisted of the Chief Justice, 28 judges, 3 supernumerary judges, 4 deputy judges and 6 prothonotaries.

The Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada consisted of the Chief Justice and 59 designated judges.

The Tax Court of Canada consisted of the Chief Justice, 19 judges and 5 supernumerary judges.

Registry Services

CAS provides Registry Services to the four federal courts: the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada. CAS Registry Services Division provides all operational and registry functions necessary for the four courts to operate thus meeting all of the Courts' requirements and also ensures public access to the courts and to court records nationally.

The Registry Services Branch has offices and staff in Ottawa, as well as in regional and local offices across the country: Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montréal, Québec City, Halifax and Fredericton. As well, CAS has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in place with the government of Nunavut for the use of courtrooms in Iqaluit and for the reception of documents for the four courts. CAS also has MOUs in place for the use of courtrooms, and to assure basic registry functions, for the Federal Court of Appeal and the Federal Court, in St. John's (Nfld.), Charlottetown, Saint-John (New Brunswick), Regina, Saskatoon, Yellowknife and Whitehorse.

The following are a few examples of specific functions carried out by Registry Services:

• providing judges and prothonotaries with direct support services before, during and after court hearings;
• supporting court processes before, during and after court hearings;
• providing litigants and their counsel with services relating to court hearings;
• informing litigants on rules of practice, court directives and procedures;
• maintaining court records;
• processing documents filed by or issued to litigants, such as court decisions, and recording all proceedings;
• serving as a depository to allow for the enforcement of decisions made by the courts and federal administrative tribunals, such as the Canada Industrial Relations Board and Canadian Human Rights Tribunal;
• assessment of bills of costs.

The inherent nature of Registry work is reactive as CAS has virtually no control over the number of cases filed each year in the four courts. This unpredictable environment requires Registry Services to adjust rapidly to new demands and to be fully aware of any upcoming legislative changes that could affect the future workload of the four courts.

Operational Training

Registry Services also performs an important activity that enhances staff's professional development and improves service delivery, by providing formal training to all operational staff, and in particular to new employees, on a wide range of registry-related subjects. There are three full-time trainers who deliver 10 different modules to staff across the country, depending on needs identified by operational managers. The modules pertain to:

• Admiralty (2 days)
• Client Service and Communications (1 1/2 days)
• Courts Administration (1 day)
• Court Registrar - Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court (3 days)
• Court Registrar - Tax Court of Canada (2 days)
• Court Usher - Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court (1 1/2 days)
• Immigration (1 1/2 days)
• Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts (2 1/2 days)
• Rules and Registry Procedures - Tax Court of Canada (3 days)
• Rules of the Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court (2 1/2 days)

Technology and Re-Engineering in Case Management

In its quest to continually improve service delivery to the judiciary, to the legal profession and to the general public, Registry Services has been working on key modernization initiatives. These initiatives include the implementation of new technologies and in particular improvements to the case management system. At the end of the fiscal year, changes were brought to the governance structure of the modernization initiatives to ensure that solutions implemented are focused on improving client service.

CAS' stakeholders expect to be able to deal with the federal courts in the same manner as they do with other large public organizations that allow for electronic transmission/receipt of documents. However, CAS' current systems and technology are outdated: two completely different and very old case management systems are being maintained (one for the Federal Court of Appeal and Federal Court and one for the Tax Court) and these systems cannot be used to provide the reports needed for use in management decision-making. Although both systems have some e-filing capacity in that they provide the functionality of receiving, storing and retrieving electronic documents, the digital files received via the web for the Federal Court are not accessible through the Court's current Case Management System and the use of another application is necessary to access these files. As well, CAS is still printing most electronic documents it receives for storage in a paper court file. It is one of CAS' priorities to integrate all e-filed documents in the new integrated Case Management System currently under development, to facilitate the retrieval of all electronic documents through one interface and ultimately to increase our use of e-filing and provide a more efficient and effective service to all of CAS' clients.

It is CAS' goal to complete the development of the new CMS within the next few years to allow for a uniform method of electronic reception, transmission, storage and retrieval of all court files for all four courts.

The development of the new CMS was started in 2007-2008 using existing resources and building on improvements made to the server platform in the previous fiscal year. The development of the new CMS is led jointly by Registry Services and the IM/IT Division and it is being conducted in different phases over a three year period pending availability of resources. Phase 1, which was conducted during 2007-2008, consisted of upgrading the two different systems that exist in the Federal Courts and in the Tax Court and implementing a new common software and hardware infrastructure. Phase 1 was completed and launched in May 2008.

Phase 2 is being developed in 2008-2009 and will allow CAS to receive and store electronic documents within the CMS. Other phases of the CMS will follow and involve modules dealing with document receipt, scheduling, issuance of judgments, automated generation of correspondence and statistics, among others. It is expected that electronic access to court documents will create many efficiencies within CAS but above all it will improve our client service and significantly improve access to the courts for all Canadians.

During 2007-2008 CAS Registry Services and Information Technology staff worked on the following four separate initiatives to improve client service and productivity, and assist in the implementation of the new CMS; e-filing, e-scanning, digital recording and electronic distribution of judgments and orders:

E-filing: In May, 2007, the e-filing initiative was expanded to add Federal Court immigration and admiralty case types. This was in addition to the intellectual property proceedings which were available at the outset of the original pilot project in October 2005. It is planned to add the remainder of the Federal Court's jurisdiction in the fall of 2008.

In September 2007, an e-filing pilot commenced with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) whereby Income Tax and GST certificate filings from two of CRA's National Tax Services Offices (TSOs) began to be e-filed. CRA has recently confirmed that it wishes to add more of its TSOs to this successful program in 2008-2009 and subsequent fiscal years.

E-scanning: The e-scanning initiative originated to improve service delivery by facilitating duplication of documents between Ottawa, Toronto and Montréal and as a consequence provide important savings in duplication and transportation costs.

The initiative involves the reconfiguration of equipment, the acquisition of high speed printers, the implementation of appropriate file format structures, the establishment of filenames based on an appropriate file naming convention and unique ID numbers for all documents. This initiative has required staff to identify and address a number of technical challenges that have allowed for improved duplication of documents between offices. It will also reduce the need for physical storage of files and increase staff productivity.

The most important benefit of this initiative, however, is that it is preparing registry staff for a time in the near future, when all court files will be kept electronically. It is anticipated that some parties will prefer to file paper copies of documents and therefore, scanning will always be necessary to complete the electronic files. As such, this initiative is allowing us to foresee and correct difficulties that would otherwise have arisen at that point in time. In 2008-2009 we will continue the expansion of e-scanning by acquiring additional equipment and by expanding the scope of our scanning activity.

Digital recording in courtrooms: The Service is developing a strategy for full deployment of mobile and permanent digital recording equipment in its courtrooms. In 2007-2008 a "Request for Proposal" (RFP) was submitted to Public Works and Government Services (PWGSC) and CAS staff has since been working diligently with PWGSC to complete the work on the RFP and ensure that the equipment is purchased as soon as possible. It is expected that the RFP process and the purchase of equipment will be completed in 2008-2009.

Electronic distribution of judgments and orders: This pilot project allows for the distribution of judgments and orders in an electronic format. This creates a more efficient process for our distribution office when sending copies of decisions to its clients and allows for a more timely delivery of our decisions to various legal publications. The pilot project also allows the registries to issue e-mailed courtesy copies of decisions to counsel when it is practical to do so thus improving our client service and overall efficiency.

Review of processes within Registry Services

During 2007-2008 a number of changes were brought to internal processes to improve service delivery. Efforts to train and cross-train staff to be able to better serve clients with respect to all four courts continued. Towards the end of the fiscal year the need to standardize registry processes in the different courts and across the country was identified as being an essential first step to developing, documenting and measuring our performance and to develop internal and external service standards. This work is continuing during 2008-2009.

Bill C-3 and Special Advocates

Bill C-3, an Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (certificate and special advocate) came into force on February 22, 2008, and with it the creation of the office of Special Advocate, whose role consists of protecting the interests of permanent residents or foreign nationals during in camera evidentiary hearings held in the context of the issuance of security certificates pursuant to that legislation.

Further to discussions with the Department of Justice during the course of 2007-2008, CAS agreed to provide certain forms of support to Special Advocates in the context of their review of classified material on CAS premises. Broadly speaking, this support consists of access to facilities within which Special Advocates may consult classified materials, as well as the provision of some administrative and other support to facilitate the preparation of court documentation for hearings in which the Special Advocates are principal participants.

This type of cross-departmental arrangement represents a first for CAS, and the effects of this initiative will be realized only in 2008-2009 and in subsequent years.