In our article on August 14, we explained how the Supreme Court of Canada's suspension period is set to end on September 13.

Since then, the Court has updated its guidance on how the suspension period functions and the effect of the Federal Time Limits and Other Periods Act (COVID-19) on Supreme Court timelines.

Briefly, the Court has clarified that the suspension period functions like this:

  • The suspension period runs from March 13 to the end of the day on September 13.
  • The suspension period suspends all time limits, whether imposed by the Rules or the Supreme Court Act.
  • This includes the 60-day time limit for bringing an application for leave to appeal, which is set out at s. 58 of the Act.
  • Beginning September 14, all time limits begin counting again.

For example, if you or your client is seeking leave to appeal a decision that was released on March 3, the time remaining of the 60-day time limit (51 days) would begin to count again on September 14. This means the application for leave to appeal is due on November 3.

The full FAQ from the Court can be found here.

For any questions about this or other Supreme Court-related matter, Gowling WLG's Supreme Court of Canada team of professionals is ready to assist.