The Courts We Support
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. It is the successor to the Exchequer Court of Canada which was established in 1875. The jurisdiction of the Federal Court derives primarily from the Federal Courts Act, though over 100 other federal statutes also confer jurisdiction on the Court. The Federal Court has original, but not exclusive, jurisdiction over proceedings by and against the Crown (including Aboriginal law claims), and proceedings involving admiralty law and intellectual property law. It has exclusive jurisdiction to hear certain national security proceedings as well as applications for judicial review of the decisions of most federal boards, commissions and tribunals. This includes applications for judicial review of decisions of the Immigration and Refugee Board.
Further information on the Federal Court can be found at: www.fct-cf.gc.ca.
The following statistics provide a record of the workload handled by the employees of the Judicial and Registry Services Branch in support of the Federal Court.
Federal Court | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Proceedings Instituted or Filed General Proceedings and Immigration Income Tax Act certificates Excise Tax Act certificates Other instruments and certificates |
37,275 10,153 14,846 11,956 320 |
38,441 13,940 13,277 10,795 429 |
31,527 12,379 10,737 7,789 622 |
30,786 9,766 12,333 8,147 540 |
33,866 8,692 15,630 9,077 467 |
Court Judgments, Orders and Directions Processed by the Registry |
20,864 | 23,387 | 22,184 | 21,205 | 19,866 |
Files prepared for hearing and heard in Court | 4,065 | 5,493 | 4,385 | 4,215 | 4,407 |
Days in Court | 3,057 | 3,042 | 2,961 | 2,996 | 3,019 |
Recorded Entries | 261,071 | 287,878 | 254,147 | 238,525 | 233,038 |
Total Dispositions – General Proceedings and Immigration |
11,640 | 11,610 | 10,555 | 9,362 | 8,821 |
Active Proceedings as of March 31 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
Aboriginal | 216 | 232 | 240 | 210 | 224 |
Other appeals provided for by law | 196 | 156 | 142 | 120 | 109 |
Admiralty | 196 | 233 | 234 | 270 | 284 |
Intellectual property | 543 | 532 | 548 | 626 | 677 |
Immigration | 5,251 | 6,835 | 4,705 | 2,895 | 2,565 |
Crown | 456 | 341 | 291 | 315 | 305 |
Judicial Review | 859 | 783 | 747 | 702 | 668 |
Patented Medicines Regulations | 67 | 88 | 74 | 71 | 70 |
Total | 7,784 | 9,200 | 6,981 | 5,209 | 4,902 |
Status as of March 31 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10 |
Not perfected | 3,703 | 6,477 | 4,650 | 3,511 | 3,303 |
Perfected | 1,323 | 1,490 | 759 | 570 | 696 |
Consolidated | 197 | 64 | 37 | 61 | 30 |
Reserved | 160 | 208 | 207 | 144 | 127 |
Scheduled for hearing | 594 | 641 | 636 | 481 | 422 |
Stayed | 1,807 | 320 | 692 | 442 | 324 |
Total | 7,784 | 9,200 | 6,981 | 5,209 | 4,902 |