November 2021 - Interventions

Interveners serve an important role in bringing broader perspectives before the Court than those advanced by appellants and respondents. This notice sets out the Court’s expectations of interveners, and the scope of their submissions, in cases before it. It should be read in conjunction with the notice of March 2017.

The terms “party” and “parties” are used narrowly here to mean the appellant(s) and respondent(s) to any appeal before the Court.

  1. The Court expects all intervener submissions to be useful to the Court and different from those of the parties.
  2. The purpose of an intervention is not to support a party but to advance the intervener’s own view of a legal issue before the Court. Despite the participation of interveners, the case remains a dispute between its parties. However, the fact that an intervener’s submission aligns it generally with one party over another does not, without more, make the submission inappropriate.
  3. Interveners should not take a position on the outcome of an appeal, whether in written or oral argument.
  4. Interveners must not challenge findings of fact, introduce new issues, or try to expand the case.
  5. In considering applications to intervene, the Court will be mindful of the need not to unduly imbalance the arguments before it.
  6. The Court always retains a discretion to take any steps it sees fit to prevent an unfairness to the parties arising from an intervener’s participation in an appeal.

For further information, please contact Renée Thériault, Executive Legal Officer at 613-996-9296.

 

David Power
Acting Registrar

November 2021