The Courts We Serve

Federal Court

The Federal Court is a national, bilingual, bijural, superior court of record, which hears and decides legal disputes arising in the federal domain. Its jurisdiction derives primarily from the Federal Courts Act, though over 100 other federal statutes also confer jurisdiction on the Court. It has original, but not exclusive jurisdiction over proceedings by and against the Crown (including Aboriginal law claims), and proceedings involving admiralty and intellectual property law. It has exclusive jurisdiction to hear certain national security proceedings and applications for judicial review of the decisions of federal commissions, tribunals and boards. Further information on the Federal Court can be found at: www.fct-cf.gc.ca.

The table below provides an overview of the workload of the Judicial and Registry Services Branch in support of the Federal Court.

Federal Court 2015–16 2014–15 2013–14 2012–13 2011–12
Proceedings Instituted or Filed 31,577 35,731 37,275 38,441 31,527
General Proceedings and Immigration 7,555 9,722 10,153 13,940 12,379
Income Tax Act certificates 14,692 14,816 14,846 13,277 10,737
Excise Tax Act certificates 9,069 10,792 11,956 10,795 7,789
Other instruments and certificates 261 401 320 429 622
Court Judgments, Orders and Directions Processed by the Registry 18,723 20,561 20,864 23,387 22,184
Files prepared for hearing and heard in Court 4,086 4,223 4,065 5,493 4,385
Days in Court 3,037 3,109 3,057 3,042 2,961
Recorded Entries 243,664 259,077 261,071 287,878 254,147
Total Dispositions – General Proceedings and Immigration 8,275 9,030 11,460 11,610 10,555
Active Proceedings as of March 31 2015–16 2014–15 2013–14 2012–13 2011–12
Aboriginal 223 210 216 232 240
Other appeals provided for by law 270 199 196 156 142
Admiralty 196 205 196 233 234
Intellectual property 485 485 543 532 548
Immigration 3,433 5,657 5,251 6,835 4,705
Crown 665 669 456 341 291
Judicial Review 869 840 859 783 747
Patented Medicines Regulations 24 55 67 88 74
Total 6,165 8,320 7,784 9,200 6,981
Status as of March 31 2015–16 2014–15 2013–14 2012–13 2011–12
Not perfected 3,508 3,663 3,703 6,477 4,650
Perfected 399 632 1,323 1,490 759
Consolidated 717 776 197 64 37
Reserved 160 204 160 208 207
Scheduled for hearing 446 911 594 641 636
Stayed 935 2,134 1,807 320 692
Total 6,165 8,320 7,784 9,200 6,981