Lawyers unsure if extra funding can reduce massive caseload at Federal Court

Resumen detallado

The Federal Court asked for additional resources to handle a caseload that's ballooned to nearly 31,000 proceedings commenced as of Sept. 30 — up from about 7,600 in all of 2020.

The recent federal budget included $58 million in additional funding court administration but the Federal Court still doesn’t have a clear picture of how it can be used to reduce a massive caseload that has grown rapidly since 2020.

“At the moment, the Federal Court doesn’t have additional details on how the funding confirmed will be distributed among the stated purposes,” Chief Justice Paul Diner told The Canadian Press in an emailed statement on Thursday.

The Federal Court hears immigration-related issues such as visa applications, refugee claims, admissibility cases and removals. It has responsibility for upholding the law in other areas related to federal jurisdiction, like intellectual property, national security and Indigenous rights.

The court asked for additional resources to handle a caseload that’s ballooned to nearly 31,000 proceedings commenced as of Sept. 30 this year — up from about 7,600 in all of 2020.

More than 27,000 of the proceedings started this year are immigration cases.

Diner told The Canadian Press in an August interview that judges and court staff have had to work evenings, weekends and vacation days to handle a caseload that has been growing in large part because of immigration matters.

The budget says the money is earmarked for the Courts Administration Service, which serves the Federal Court, the Federal Appeal Court, the Tax Court of Canada and the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada.

The single mention of it in the documents published Nov. 5 says the new funding is meant to address the Federal Court caseload and to help the Courts Administration Service with Official Languages Act compliance, a translation backlog and the need to modernize court infrastructure.

The extra $58 million in funding is set to begin in the 2027/28 fiscal year and continue for four years, averaging $14.5 million annually.

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