Being named as a respondent

If you have received an application for leave to appeal, this means that the party who sent it to you (the applicant) has filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and has named you as a responding party (the respondent).

You can file a written response to the application for leave to appeal. There is no fee for filing a response. You may be ordered to pay costs if the appeal is ultimately successful. Costs are generally not ordered in criminal cases.

Seeking legal advice

Even if you plan to represent yourself before the Court, you should get legal advice as your first step. Only a lawyer can give you legal advice.

The following resources may be helpful to you when seeking legal advice:

• Pro Bono Ontario’s Supreme Court of Canada Leave to Appeal Assistance Project
  • This program is available to residents of any province or territory
• Organizations that make legal information available to the general public

Many of these sources also provide information on finding a lawyer and getting free or low-cost legal services.

Responding to the application for leave to appeal

You are encouraged to use this response form to ensure that your response to the application for leave to appeal is compliant with the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada or the Guidelines for Preparing Documents to be filed with the Supreme Court of Canada. When completing the forms, type or write clearly and legibly.

You can choose to put together your own response to the application for leave to appeal instead of using the Supreme Court of Canada’s forms. If you choose this option, refer to the following documents for information on preparing your response:

1. Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada and forms to the Rules
2. Guidelines for Preparing Documents to be filed with the Supreme Court of Canada

Keep the following information in mind when preparing your response:

• The memorandum of argument of your response must not exceed 20 pages
• If your response is shorter than 2 pages, it can be filed in the form of a letter
• If you want the applicant to pay your costs if the leave application is dismissed, you must request costs in your response

Deadlines

Your response is due within 30 days from the day that a file number was assigned. If a file number had already been assigned to the leave application, your response is due within 30 days of the date you received the leave application. Consult How to calculate deadlines for serving and filing documents for information on deadlines or contact the Registry to confirm of the due date of the response.

Within the deadline, you must:

• file your response to the application for leave to appeal with the Registry
• serve a copy of your response on the applicant and all parties named in the application for leave to appeal

After you file your response

The applicant can file a reply to your response. They must serve the reply on you and all other parties within 10 days of the date they received your response.

Delivering the application for leave to appeal to the judges

Once all the documents are filed or all deadlines for filing have expired, the application for leave to appeal, your response and the reply filed will be sent to the judges of the Court by the Registrar.

Once the application for leave to appeal has been submitted, no further documents can be filed unless permission is given by the Registrar (Rule 32 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Canada).

The Court makes its decision

Decisions of the Court are rendered in writing.

In general, a decision in your case will be released between 1 and 3 months after the application for leave to appeal has been sent to the judges.

You will receive an email from the Registry a few days before the decision will be released to advise you of the date the judgment will be rendered. On the date the judgment on the application for leave to appeal is rendered, we will send the judgment by email to all parties.

If you want to be informed of the Court’s decision on the day of the judgment, you can contact the Registry after 9:45 am.

Decisions are posted on the Court’s Case information page at 12 pm on the day they are rendered.

Filing your documents

Filing through the Electronic Filing Portal

You can file your response using the Supreme Court of Canada’s Electronic Filing Portal. If you are unable to use the Portal, you may file your documents in paper form.

Filing print copies

To file your response in print, send the required number of copies and other documents to the Registry. You can send documents by courier, registered mail, regular mail, or you may bring your documents to the Court in person.

Send your documents to the address below:

If you are bringing your documents in person, go to the east entrance of the Supreme Court of Canada building. You will file your documents using the e-filing lockers located at the east Entrance.

If necessary, you can book an appointment with the Registry by sending an email to bookingregistry-reservationgreffe@scc-csc.ca.

Still have questions?

The Registry is open Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm (Eastern Time), excluding holidays.