NFPMC General Rules of Procedure (SOR/82-641)

17 A reply, intervention or submission shall be filed with the Secretary and served on the parties at least 20 days before the day fixed for the commencement of a hearing as set out in the notice thereof published pursuant to subsection 8(2) unless such notice of the Council otherwise directs.

18 Where a person who intends to reply to an intervention or submission fails to file his reply with the Secretary within the time specified in section 17 or the notice thereof, as the case may be, the hearing may commence and be determined without further notice to that person.

Reply to Interventions

19 The Council may, at any time prior to the termination of a proceeding, serve a true copy of a reply, intervention or submission on the parties.

• 20 (1) Within 10 days after a party is served with a copy of any reply, intervention or submission, that party may mail or deliver to the Secretary a reply thereto.

• (2) Where a reply referred to in subsection (1) is not mailed or delivered within the time specified in that subsection, the Secretary may refuse to accept it.

• 21 (1) A party in a reply referred to in section 20 may object to any application, reply, intervention or submission, stating the grounds of his objection and may admit or deny any or all the facts alleged in the document.

• (2) A reply shall be signed by the party or his solicitor and, where it is signed by his agent, it shall be accompanied by a copy of the document that authorizes the agent to act on behalf of the party.

Service and Filing

• 22 (1) Subject to subsection (2), service of any notice or other document shall be by personal service, in which case service shall be on the date of delivery, or by mail, in which case the date of service shall be the date the notice or other document is deposited in a post office.

• (2) Proof of service by affidavit shall, at the request of the Council, be filed with the Secretary in respect of any document required to be served.

• (3) Documents to be served on the Council may be personally served at its offices in the National Capital Region described in the schedule to the National Capital Act.

Verification by Affidavit, Proof of Notice

• 23 (1) The Council may at any time require the whole or any part of any application, reply, intervention or submission filed with the Secretary to be supported by affidavit or require proof of the fact that notice of or a copy of any such application, reply, intervention or submission has been given or sent in the manner required by these Rules, by giving notice to that effect to the person by or on behalf of whom the application, reply, intervention or submission was filed.

• (2) Where a person who has been notified in accordance with subsection (1) fails to comply with the terms of the notice, the Council may set aside the application, reply, intervention or submission or any part thereof that is not supported or proved in accordance with the notice.

• (3) Where in any case an affidavit referred to in subsection (1) is made as to belief, the grounds on which the belief is based shall be stated in the affidavit.

Amendment

• 24 (1) The Council may, at any time, allow the whole or any part of any application, reply, intervention or submission filed with the Secretary to be amended on such terms and conditions, including conditions as to notice, as the Council considers appropriate in the circumstances, and the Council may order to be amended or struck out any matter that, in its opinion, may prejudice, embarrass or delay a fair hearing of the case on its merits.

• (2) The Council may order amendments to any application, reply, intervention or submission filed with the Secretary as may be necessary for the purpose of hearing and determining the question in issue between the parties.

• (3) No proceeding shall be defeated by any objections based solely on defects in form.

Summons, Subpoenas and Audits

• 25 (1) The Council may, at any time, add a party to the proceedings before it.

• (2) The Council may summon or subpoena a person to testify under oath or to produce any document or thing relevant to the proceedings.

• (3) A summons and subpoena shall be in the forms set out in Schedules I and II respectively, and shall be signed by the chairman of the Council or the Secretary.

• (4) A summons or subpoena may be served and shall have effect anywhere in Canada.

26 The Council may appoint a person to take evidence and report to the Council.

Stay of Proceedings

• 27 (1) Where in a proceeding before the Council any order has been made under these Rules or under any other rule or any direction, order or regulation of the Council or under the Act requiring a person to furnish information or documents, the Council may order a stay of proceedings therein until such time as the information or documents so required have been filed with the Secretary.

• (2) Where the Council directs an inquiry to be made into any matter relating to an application or complaint, the Secretary shall give such notice thereof to the parties in the proceeding as Council may designate and the Council may order a stay of proceedings therein for such time as the Council deems appropriate in the circumstances.

Settlement of Issues and Preliminary Questions of Law

28 Where it appears to the Council that any statement or information contained in any application, reply, intervention or submission does not sufficiently disclose the issues of fact in dispute, or to be defined, between the parties in the proceeding, the Council may direct the parties to prepare an issue, and such issue shall, if the parties do not agree to the issues of fact in dispute, or to be defined, between them, be settled by the Council either before the hearing to be held in respect of that application or during the course of the hearing.

• 29 (1) Where it appears to the Council in any proceeding that there is a question of law, jurisdiction, practice or procedure that it would be convenient to have decided before proceeding further with the proceeding, the Council may make a decision on the question.

• (2) The Council may, while making a decision on a question referred to in subsection (1), order the whole or any portion of the proceeding before it to be stayed.

Conference

30 The Council may, in any proceeding, direct orally or in writing the parties or their agents to appear before a member of the Council or the Secretary at a specified time and place for a conference or, in lieu of appearing personally, to make submissions in writing for the purpose of formulating issues and considering

• (a) the simplification of issues;

• (b) the necessity or desirability of amending the application, reply, intervention or submission for the purpose of clarification, amplification or limitation;

• (c) the admission of certain facts or the proof of them by affidavit or the use by any party of documents of a public nature;

• (d) the procedure to be followed at the hearing;

• (e) the mutual exchange between the parties of documents and exhibits proposed to be submitted at the hearing; and

• (f) such other matters as may aid in the simplification of the evidence and the disposition of the proceeding.

Production of Documents

• 31 (1) Any party to a proceeding may, at any time before the hearing commences, give notice in writing to any other party, in whose application, reply, intervention, submission or response to an interrogatory, reference has been made to a document to produce that document for inspection by the party giving the notice or his agent and to permit him or his agent to make copies thereof.

• (2) Any party to a proceeding who fails to comply with a notice given to him pursuant to subsection (1) within 10 days from the receipt thereof shall not thereafter be permitted to put the document referred to in the notice in evidence on his behalf in the proceeding unless the Council directs otherwise or he satisfies the Council that he had sufficient cause for not complying with the notice.

32 Unless otherwise specified in these Rules or by Council, the production and inspection of documents and the attendance of witnesses in proceedings before the Council shall be enforced in the same manner as in the Federal Court of Canada.

Interrogatories

33 Where in any proceeding the Council permits interrogatories to be directed to a party, such interrogatories shall be

• (a) addressed to that party;

• (b) numbered consecutively;

• (c) identified with a designation in the form of the following example:

  “CCMA (CAC) 15 Jan. 82-103”

  where,

  • (i) the first four letters are an abbreviation or a name, as the case may be, for the party from whom the response is sought,

  • (ii) the letters in parentheses are an abbreviation for the party seeking the response,

  • (iii) the date is the date on which the interrogatory was sent, and

  • (iv) the final number is the number of the particular interrogatory; and

• (d) served within the time limit directed by the Council.

Responses to Interrogatories

• 34 (1) Subject to subsection (2), where in any proceeding the Council permits interrogatories to be directed to a party and interrogatories have been served on the party within the time limit directed by the Council, the party shall,

  • (a) within the time limit directed by the Council, provide a full and adequate response to each interrogatory on a separate page or pages headed with the designation described in section 33 for each interrogatory; and

  • (b) file a copy of the response with the Secretary.

• (2) A party who is unable or unwilling to provide a full and adequate response to an interrogatory shall,

  • (a) where the party contends that the interrogatory is not relevant, provide a response that sets out reasons in support of that contention,

  • (b) where the party contends that the information necessary to provide a response is not available, provide a response that sets out the reasons for the unavailability of such information and provide alternative available information that the party considers would be of assistance to the person directing the interrogatory, or

  • (c) where the party contends that the information sought is of a confidential nature, provide a response that sets out the reasons therefor as required by subsection 35(2),

  and file with the Secretary a copy of the response provided.

Confidentiality

• 35 (1) Where a document is filed with the Council by a party in relation to any proceeding, the Council may place the document on the public record unless the party filing the document asserts a claim of confidentiality at the time of such filing.

• (2) Any claim for confidentiality made in connection with a document filed with the Council or requested by the Council or any party shall be accompanied by the reasons therefor, and, where it is asserted that specific direct harm would be caused to the party claiming confidentiality, sufficient details shall be provided as to the nature and extent of such harm.

• (3) A party claiming confidentiality in connection with a document shall indicate whether he objects to an abridged version of the document on the public record and, if so, shall state his reasons for the objection.

• (4) The Council may place a claim for confidentiality referred to in subsection (2) on the public record and copies of such claim may be provided to such parties to the proceeding as the Council may specify.

• (5) Where a claim for confidentiality is made in connection with a document that has not been filed by a party, the Council may require the party to file the document and, after the document has been filed, the Council shall

  • (a) review the document in confidence; and

  • (b) deal with the document in accordance with subsection (10) or (11), whichever is applicable.

• (6) Any party wishing public disclosure of a document filed with the Council in relation to which there has been a publicized claim for confidentiality may file with the Council

  • (a) a request for such disclosure setting out the reasons therefor, including the public interest in the disclosure of all information relevant to the Council’s supervisory responsibilities; and

  • (b) any material in support of the reasons for public disclosure.

• (7) A copy of a request for public disclosure referred to in subsection (6) shall be served on the party claiming confidentiality and that party may, unless the Council otherwise determines, file a reply with the Council and serve a copy thereof on the party requesting public disclosure.

• (8) Where the Council requests of a party that a document, for which confidentiality has been claimed, be placed on the public record, the party claiming confidentiality shall have 10 days to file a reply, unless the Council otherwise determines.

• (9) The Council may dispose of a claim for confidentiality on the basis of the documentation filed or may, if it considers such procedure to be just and proper,

  • (a) refer the matter to a conference under section 30;

  • (b) require depositions to be taken before a person appointed to conduct an examination under subsection 39(2); or

  • (c) refer the matter to an oral hearing.

• (10) Where the Council is, in respect of the disclosure of a document, of the opinion that, based on all the material before it, no specific direct harm would be likely to result from disclosure, or where any such specific direct harm is shown but is not sufficient to outweigh the public interest in disclosing the document, the document may be placed on the public record.

• (11) Where the Council is of the opinion that, based on all the material before it, the specific direct harm likely to result from public disclosure of a document justifies a claim for confidentiality, the Council, may,

  • (a) order that the document not be placed on the public record;

  • (b) order disclosure of an abridged version of part of the document; or

  • (c) order that the document be disclosed to parties designated by Council at a hearing to be conducted in camera.