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Saskatchewan Court of Appeal Update
October 5, 2022The Court of Appeal Rules [Rules] and The Court of Appeal Criminal Appeal Rules (Saskatchewan) [Criminal Rules] are amended effective October 3, 2022, and the consolidated version of the Rules and the Criminal Rules are now available on the Court of Appeal’s website. Members of the profession are encouraged to review and become familiar with the revised and consolidated Rules and Criminal Rules, as well as Civil Practice Directive No. 3 and Criminal Practice Directive No. 3 (both of which concern electronic filing). The amended Rules:
- clarify existing practices and procedures, such as the filing of the issued judgment or order appealed against as well as the reasons for decision (Rule 10.1);
- treat self-represented and represented parties similarly with respect to the right to file a factum or written argument (Rule 35);
- remove the requirement to estimate the time for hearing (repealing Rule 37);
- speak to the filing of a compendium to facilitate oral argument (Rule 37.1);
- clarify the procedure regarding the scheduling and hearing of chambers matters, including providing more specific timelines for filing briefs (Rules 48, 48.1 and 49);
- confirm the principles regarding applications to adduce evidence that was not part of the record of the court or tribunal from which the appeal is taken (Rule 59);
- require an address for service on every document filed with the Court and clarify what service information must be provided, including requiring that a party include an email address (Rule 65); and
- confirm that all documents must be filed electronically through the Court’s electronic filing system and in accordance with the practices and procedures established by the Court from time to time.
Other amendments have been made in order to parallel the language used in the Court of King’s Bench, and to update references to that Court in the Rules and Forms. As a reminder, the new Rule 15 that reverses the automatic stay of execution or stay of proceedings upon the filing of a notice of appeal does not come into effect until January 1, 2023.
The amended Criminal Rules:
- adopt a new Part concerning appeals under s. 839 of the Criminal Code, which brings within the Rules procedures formerly contained in Criminal Practice Directive No. 8;
- prescribe the number of factums to be filed (Rule 13);
- provide the procedure for an offender to apply for court-appointed counsel (Rule 37);
- stipulate appropriate conditions for judicial interim release (Rule 39).
Additionally, all Civil and Criminal Forms are now available on the Court of Appeal’s website in both Word and PDF, for ease of downloading and completion.