Case information

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Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

Constitutional law — Division of powers — Jurisdiction ? Labour relations — Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS) providing policing services for certain areas of Nishnawbe-Aski First Nation ? Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) certified Public Service Alliance of Canada as bargaining agent for two bargaining units of employees employed by NAPS Board, on basis labour relations of NAPS are federally regulated ? After release of NIL/TU,O Child and Family Services v. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, 2010 SCC 45, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 696 and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada v. Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, 2010 SCC 46, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 737, NAPS Board applying to CIRB for order setting aside certification orders ? CIRB upheld certification orders it had made and dismissed application ? Court of Appeal allowed application for judicial review concluding labour relations of NAPS are provincially regulated ? Whether labour relations of NAPS, a First Nations police service, falls within federal or provincial jurisdiction ? Constitution Act, 1867.

The CIRB, acting under the federal Canada Labour Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. L-2, certified the applicant, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, as the bargaining agent for two bargaining units of employees employed by the respondent, NAPS Board. The certification orders were based upon, among other things, the view that the labour relations of NAPS —a police service for certain areas of the Nishnawbe-Aski Nation—are federally regulated.

A few years later, two cases were released: NIL/TU,O Child and Family Services v. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, 2010 SCC 45, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 696 and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada v. Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, 2010 SCC 46, [2010] 2 S.C.R. 737. In NIL/TU,O and Native Child, it was held that the labour relations of employees of agencies that provide services to Aboriginal families and children were provincially regulated.

After the release of NIL/TU,O and Native Child, the NAPS Board thought that the labour relations of NAPS might be provincially regulated. So it applied to the CIRB for an order setting aside the certification orders. CIRB upheld the certification orders it had previously made and dismissed the application. The Federal Court of Appeal granted the application for judicial review, set aside the decision of the CIRB and directed it to grant the application of the NAPS Board and set aside the certification orders.