Judicial work
The Supreme Court of Canada is Canada’s final court of appeal. It serves Canadians by deciding legal issues of public importance, which contributes to the development of all branches of law applicable in Canada. The Court is bilingual, meaning it works and decides cases in English and French. It is also bijural, meaning it decides cases from Canada’s 2 major legal traditions: common law and civil law.
Jurisdiction
The Court’s jurisdiction is derived mainly from the Supreme Court Act, as well as from a few other Acts of Parliament, such as the Criminal Code. Its jurisdiction consists of both the civil law of the province of Quebec and the common law of the other 9 provinces and 3 territories. The Court hears cases in all areas of the law, including constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law and private law.
To better understand the Supreme Court of Canada’s jurisdiction, it helps to understand how Canadian courts are organized and the 3 ways cases come before it.
How courts in Canada are organized
The courts in Canada are organized in a pyramid structure. The Supreme Court of Canada sits at the top of the structure and hears appeals from cases that have been decided in:
- the federal court system, which includes the Federal Court and the Tax Court of Canada, the Court Martial Appeal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal
- the provincial and territorial court systems, which includes provincial and territorial trial courts, the superior courts, and each province’s or territory’s Court of Appeal
The Department of Justice of Canada has additional information on the organization of the Canadian court system.
How cases come to the Supreme Court of Canada
Cases come to the Supreme Court in 1 of 3 ways:
- Leave to appeal: In most cases, a party who wants to appeal the decision of a lower court must obtain permission, or leave to appeal, from the Court. The Supreme Court will only hear cases that the judges consider to be of public importance. Cases that raise issues of public importance could be those that require the Court to interpret the Constitution or constitutional rights or resolve conflicting decisions of the provincial and territorial appeal courts. The Supreme Court of Canada gets many applications for leave to appeal each year, but only grants those that judges consider to be of public importance.
- Appeals as of right: There are cases for which leave to appeal (permission) is not required. These include appeals from opinions pronounced by courts of appeal on matters referred to them by a provincial government. They can also include certain criminal cases, for example, an appeal may be brought as of right when 1 judge in the court of appeal has dissented on a point of law.
- References: The Court also hears references when the federal government requests an advisory legal opinion. Reference cases often ask if proposed or existing legislation is constitutional, for example whether the federal government has the right to legislate certain activities. The Supreme Court has answered a wide variety of reference questions over the years, on topics such as climate change, same-sex marriage, Senate reform and more.
Hearings
The Supreme Court of Canada holds hearings from fall to spring. Lawyers can make their arguments in English or French and simultaneous interpretation is available in the courtroom and for those watching remotely.
Hearings are typically held at the Court in Ottawa, although lawyers can present oral arguments from other locations by videoconference. The Court has heard cases outside of Ottawa on 2 occasions: in Winnipeg in 2019 and Quebec City in 2022.
Appeals must be heard by a minimum of 5 judges, but are most often heard by 7 or 9 judges.
There are no trials or juries at the Supreme Court. No one testifies or introduces new evidence. Judges consider written and oral arguments from lawyers for the main parties and ask them questions. They may also hear from interveners who often represent members of the public with a special interest on a legal issue.
When present, the Chief Justice presides over hearings. The remaining judges are seated to the right and left of the Chief Justice in order of seniority of appointment. If the Chief Justice is not hearing the appeal, the most senior puisne justice will preside.
Appeal judgments
Once the Court has heard the appeal it must decide whether to allow or dismiss the appeal. This is referred to as a judgment or decision.
Reasons for judgment
Very often, the Court gives detailed reasons for the judgment which explain why the Court decided to allow or dismiss the appeal.
Most appeal judgments are unanimous. That means that all judges who heard the appeal agree with the decision to allow or dismiss the appeal. If the judges do not all agree, the decision to allow or dismiss the appeal is determined by the majority of the judges who heard the appeal. If the majority of the judges agree that the appeal should be allowed, the judgment will say ‘appeal allowed.’ If the majority of the judges agree that the appeal should be dismissed, the judgment will say ‘appeal dismissed.’ Judges who disagree with the majority result are “dissenting”.
Usually, reasons are written by 1 or more judges from each group (majority and dissent). Any judge may write reasons in any case if they choose to do so.
Delivery of judgment
An appeal judgment can be pronounced:
- orally from the bench at the end of the appeal hearing
- reserved and delivered with written reasons at a later date
In some instances, a decision from the bench will be issued with written reasons to follow at a later date. When a reserved judgment is delivered, the parties are notified and the formal judgment is deposited with the Registrar with all the written reasons.
Publishing appeal judgments
You can find the reasons for judgment on the Court’s website along with a plain language summary called a Case in Brief. All reasons for judgment are provided in English and in French.
The official version of each judgment is published in the Canada Supreme Court Reports.