Case information

None.

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.

Civil procedure – Appeal – Prescription – Natural justice – Judicial review – Damages – Abuse of rights – Whether Court of Appeal erred in dismissing applicant’s appeal.

The applicant was a nurse at a Correctional Service of Canada health care centre. She also volunteered as regional union representative for the respondent. In that capacity, she had to deal with other union representatives, some of whom complained to the respondent in 2004 about her actions. At the respondent’s request, an investigation was conducted by a third party, who recommended that the applicant be dismissed. Instead, the respondent directed the applicant to improve the quality of her communications and to limit her involvement to institutions where there was no union representative in place.

The applicant did not challenge that decision by the respondent, which was communicated to her in October 2005, but she did try to obtain a copy of the investigation report, which she was given in 2009. She then made various unsuccessful efforts to obtain financial compensation from the respondent on the basis that she had been treated unfairly. On October 30, 2012, she brought an action against the respondent in the Superior Court, alleging, inter alia, a denial of justice and damage to her reputation as a result of the investigation and the reports subsequently produced. In response, the respondent argued that the applicant’s action was prescribed and claimed compensation from her equal to the fees and disbursements incurred to defend the action, which it considered abusive.