The FC 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, R.S.C., 1985, c. F-7 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 FC can be found at www.fct-cf.gc.ca.
The table below provides an overview of the workload of the FC.
| Federal Court | 2018–19 | 2017–18 | 2016–17 | 2015–16 | 2014–15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Proceedings Instituted or Filed | 33,088 | 25,961 | 28,304 | 31,583 | 35,731 |
| General Proceedings and Immigration | 8,866 | 7,440 | 7,329 | 7,563 | 9,722 |
| Income Tax Act certificates | 15,394 | 11,580 | 13,551 | 14,692 | 14,816 |
| Excise Tax Act certificates | 8,513 | 6,620 | 7,111 | 9,070 | 10,792 |
| Other instruments and certificates | 315 | 321 | 313 | 258 | 401 |
| Court Judgments, Orders and Directions Processed by the Registry | 19,599 | 17,157 | 17,826 | 18,720 | 20,561 |
| Files prepared for hearing and heard in Court | 3,602 | 3,506 | 3,476 | 4,086 | 4,223 |
| Days in Court | 2,741 | 2,463 | 2,885 | 3,036 | 3,109 |
| Recorded Entries | 245,497 | 212,787 | 233,241 | 243,620 | 259,077 |
| Total Dispositions – General Proceedings and Immigration | 7,370 | 8,377 | 7,547 | 8,275 | 9,030 |
| Active Proceedings as of March 31 | |||||
| Aboriginal | 244 | 233 | 240 | 223 | 210 |
| Other appeals provided for by law | 57 | 64 | 60 | 49 | 55 |
| Citizenship | 27 | 52 | 351 | 221 | 144 |
| Admiralty | 181 | 190 | 204 | 196 | 205 |
| Intellectual property | 552 | 547 | 520 | 485 | 485 |
| Immigration | 3,264 | 2,161 | 3,238 | 3,433 | 5,657 |
| Crown | 689 | 492 | 376 | 665 | 456 |
| Judicial Review | 858 | 927 | 763 | 869 | 840 |
| Patented Medicines Regulations | 32 | 45 | 20 | 24 | 55 |
| Total | 5,904 | 4,711 | 5,772 | 6,165 | 8,320 |
| Status as of March 31 | |||||
| Not perfected | 3,799 | 3,266 | 3,405 | 3,508 | 3,663 |
| Perfected | 577 | 289 | 236 | 399 | 632 |
| Consolidated | 118 | 81 | 909 | 717 | 776 |
| Reserved | 214 | 101 | 137 | 160 | 204 |
| Scheduled for hearing | 354 | 404 | 453 | 446 | 911 |
| Stayed | 842 | 570 | 632 | 935 | 2,134 |
| Total | 5,904 | 4,711 | 5,772 | 6,165 | 8,320 |