Policy on access to official records

Purpose

The Transportation Appeal Tribunal of Canada (the Tribunal) applies the open court principle.Footnote 1   Its hearings and the official records of the proceedings before the Tribunal are, by default, open to the public. Footnote 2

This policy outlines the principles and procedures used to access Tribunal records.

Principles

The Tribunal is committed to transparency, accountability and accessibility in how it makes decisions. Openness and transparency support public understanding of, and trust in, the justice system. 

As part of these principles, the Tribunal provides access to its official records upon request. The Tribunal will withhold a record only where an exception applies. 

Exceptions

In some cases, access to official records may be limited. This could be due to the Tribunal’s enabling act,Footnote 3  caselaw, a Tribunal or court order or a Tribunal policy. Below are some examples. 

Medical cases

In medical cases, all hearings and related official records are confidential.Footnote 4  This includes decisions made by the Tribunal. To support the Tribunal’s commitment to transparency, the Tribunal posts summaries of medical decisions on its website. These summaries do not contain any personal or confidential information.

Public interest

The Tribunal may hold all or any part of a hearing in private if it is of the opinion that a public hearing would not be in the public interest - for example, due to national security concerns. 

Accessing official records

You can access most decisions and orders on the Tribunal’s website or through CanLII at no cost. 

You can request access to official records by writing to the Tribunal’s Registry at Registry-Greffe@tatc.gc.ca. The request must provide enough information about the records being sought so that the Tribunal can identify and retrieve them. 

Tribunal staff cannot conduct research or extract, compile or aggregate data on behalf of requesters.

Official records

The official record of a proceeding may include:

  • documents that commence a review request or appeal (such as a completed review request form, decision letter, or notice of violation or appeal);
  • case management conference minutes;
  • motion materials;
  • correspondence between the Tribunal and the parties;
  • documents setting the time and date for a hearing or case management conference;
  • documents that set out a party’s arguments (such as written submissions);
  • caselaw and legislation submitted by the parties (such as books of authorities);
  • evidence accepted by the Tribunal and placed on the official record;
  • recordings of virtual hearings;
  • transcripts of in-person hearings; and
  • decisions, rulings and orders.

The official record of a proceeding does not include:

  • personal notes of members;
  • drafts of decisions, rulings or orders, and related communications;
  • legal advice given to decision-makers for the file; and
  • transcripts generated by artificial intelligence.

 

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