5

 

 

First Session, 48th General Assembly

65 Elizabeth II, 2016

BILL 5

AN ACT TO AMEND THE INTERPROVINCIAL SUBPOENA ACT

Received and Read the First Time................................................................

Second Reading............................................................................................

Committee.....................................................................................................

Third Reading...............................................................................................

Royal Assent.................................................................................................

HONOURABLE ANDREW PARSONS

Minister of Justice and Public Safety and Attorney General

Ordered to be printed by the Honourable House of Assembly

 

 

EXPLANATORY NOTES

The Bill would amend the Interprovincial Subpoena Act to

·         allow a party before a board, commission, tribunal or other body or person outside this province to apply for certification of a subpoena in a court in his, her or its province for service on a person in this province; and

·         allow a party before a board, commission, tribunal and other body or person in this province to apply for court certification of a subpoena in order for it to be received and adopted as a court order in the province in which it will be served.

A BILL

AN ACT TO AMEND THE INTERPROVINCIAL SUBPOENA ACT

Analysis


        1.   S.2 R&S
Definitions

        2.   S.3 R&S
Adoption of interprovincial subpoena

        3.   S.5 R&S
Failure to comply

        4.   S.6 Amdt.
Proceedings in this province

        5.   S.7 R&S
No submission to jurisdiction

        6.   S.9 R&S
Additional witness fees and expenses

        7.   S.10 Rep.
Designation as court

        8.   Sch. A Amdt.

        9.   Sch. B R&S

      10.   NLR 30/11 Rep.


Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

RSNL1990 cI-20
as amended

        1. Section 2 of the Interprovincial Subpoena Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Definitions

        2. In this Act

             (a)  "court" means a court in a province of Canada;

             (b)  "other body" means a board, commission, tribunal, body or person that has the power to issue a subpoena;

             (c)  "province of Canada" includes Yukon, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut; and

             (d)  "subpoena" means a subpoena or other document issued by a court or other body requiring a person within a province of Canada other than that of the issuing court or other body to attend as a witness before the issuing court or other body.

 

        2. Section 3 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Adoption of interprovincial subpoena

        3. A court in this province shall receive and adopt as an order of the court a subpoena from a court or other body outside this province where

             (a)  the subpoena is accompanied by a certificate signed by a judge of a superior, county or district court of the issuing province and impressed with the seal of that court, signifying that, upon hearing and examining the applicant, the judge is satisfied that the attendance in the issuing province of the person subpoenaed

                      (i)  is necessary for the adjudication of the proceeding in which the subpoena is issued, and

                     (ii)  in relation to the nature and importance of the cause or proceeding is reasonable and essential to the administration of justice in that province;

             (b)  no facts have been presented to the court from which it can reasonably infer that the attendance in the issuing province of the person subpoenaed can, or is likely to, adversely affect the health and well-being of that person or his or her dependents, or is likely to cause irreversible economic loss to that person; and

             (c)  the subpoena is accompanied by the witness fees and travelling expenses in accordance with Schedule A.

 

        3. Section 5 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Failure to comply

        5. Where a person who has been served with a subpoena adopted under section 3 and given the witness fee and travelling expenses in accordance with Schedule A not less than 10 days, or a shorter period that the judge of the court in the issuing province may indicate in his or her certificate, before the date the person is required to attend before the court or other body, fails without lawful excuse to comply with the order, that person is in contempt of court and subject to a penalty that the court may impose.

 

        4. Subsection 6(1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Proceedings in this province

        6. (1) Where a party to a proceeding before a court or other body in this province causes a subpoena to be issued for service in another province of Canada, the party may appear before a judge of the Trial Division who shall hear and examine the party or the party's counsel and, upon being satisfied that the attendance in this province of the person required in this province as a witness

             (a)  is necessary for the adjudication of the proceeding in which the subpoena or other document has been issued; and

             (b)  in relation to the nature and importance of the proceedings, is reasonable and essential to the administration of justice in this province,

shall sign a certificate, which may be in the form set out in Schedule B, and shall impress the certificate with the seal of the court.

 

        5. Section 7 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

No submission to jurisdiction

        7. A person required to attend before a court or other body in this province by a subpoena adopted by a court outside this province is considered, while within this province not to have submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts or other bodies of this province other than as a witness in the proceedings in which that person is subpoenaed and is absolutely immune from seizure of goods, service of process, execution of judgment, garnishment, imprisonment or molestation of any kind relating to a legal or judicial right, cause, action, proceeding or process within the jurisdiction of the Legislature except only those proceedings grounded on events occurring during or after the required attendance of the person in this province.

 

        6. Section 9 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Additional witness fees and expenses

        9. Where a person is required to attend before a court or other body in this province by a subpoena adopted by a court outside this province, that person may request the court or other body to order additional fees and expenses to be paid in respect of his or her attendance as a witness and the court or other body, where it is satisfied that the amount of fees and expenses previously paid to the person in respect of his or her attendance is insufficient, may order the party who obtained the subpoena to pay the person immediately those additional fees and expenses as it considers sufficient, and amounts paid under an order made under this section are disbursements in the cause.

 

        7. Section 10 of the Act is repealed.

 

        8. Schedule A to the Act is amended by deleting the words "in court" wherever they occur and substituting the words "before a court or other body".

 

        9. Schedule B to the Act is repealed and the following substituted:

Schedule B

Interprovincial Subpoena Act Certificate

I, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Name of judge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a judge . . . . . . . . . (Name of court) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . certify that I have heard and examined. . . . . . (Name of applicant party or his or her counsel) . . . who seeks to compel the attendance of. . . . (Name of witness) . . . . .  to produce documents or other articles or to testify, or both, in a proceeding in the province in the . . . . . . .. (Name of court or other body in which witness is to appear) . . . .  styled . . . . . (Style of proceeding) . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . I further certify I am persuaded that the appearance of . . . . . (Name of witness) . . . . . . . . . . . . . as a witness in the proceeding is necessary for the adjudication of the proceeding, and, in relation to the nature and importance of cause or proceeding, is reasonable and essential to the administration of justice in the province.

The Interprovincial Subpoena Act of the province makes the following provision for the immunity of . . . . . . . . . (Name of witness) . . . . . . . .. . . . . .

      "7. A person required to attend before a court or other body in this province by a subpoena adopted by a court outside this province is considered, while within this province not to have submitted to the jurisdiction of the courts or other bodies of this province other than as a witness in the proceedings in which that person is subpoenaed and is absolutely immune from seizure of goods, service of process, execution of judgment, garnishment, imprisonment or molestation of any kind relating to a legal or judicial right, cause, action, proceeding or process within the jurisdiction of the Legislature except only those proceedings grounded on events occurring during or after the required attendance of the person in this province."

Dated this . . . . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 20 . . . .

(Seal of the court)

. . . . . . . . (Signature of judge) . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NLR 30/11 Rep.

      10. The Court Designation Order, Newfoundland and Labrador Regulation 30/11, published under the Act, is repealed.