Case information

Civil procedure — Appeals — Civil procedure — Appeals — Employment Insurance benefits — Eligibility — Applicant denied employment insurance benefits because he had not held insurable employment — Applicant sought to appeal — Applicant asked Federal Court of Appeal to assume cost of transcribing proceedings before Tax Court of Canada — Tax Court of Canada declined — Whether appeal was dismissed arbitrarily — Whether Tax Court of Canada should have reached same conclusion in both trials — Whether appellant should have been required to assume the cost of obtaining transcript — Whether Federal Court of Appeal erred in failing to apply Trial Lawyers Association of British Columbia v. British Columbia (Attorney General), 2014 SCC 59, in respect of cost of transcript.

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.

In 2013, the Minister of National Revenue informed Mr. Mazraani that he had not held insurable employment pursuant to the Employment Insurance Act, S.C. 1996, c. 23. Mr. Mazraani appealed to the Tax Court of Canada. Because the Tax Court proceeding had been conducted primarily in English despite requests that it be conducted in French, a new Tax Court hearing was ordered by the Federal Court of Appeal. That holding was upheld by this Court: Mazraani v. Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc., 2018 SCC 50.

In October 2022, the Tax Court of Canada hearing Mr. Mazraani’s appeal afresh upheld the Minister’s decision. In order to pursue an appeal, Mr. Mazraani was required to provide a transcript of the second trial. He made an informal motion asking the Federal Court of Appeal to provide him with a certified copy of the transcript. In January 2023, the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed his motion and, in March 2023, it ordered that he was responsible to obtain a copy of the transcript at his own expense. In May 2023, motions for reconsideration of both decisions were dismissed. Mr. Mazraani applied to this Court for leave to appeal that decision. Various proceedings in the Federal Court of Appeal followed. The application to this Court for leave to appeal the decision of May 2023, was dismissed in February 2024. Mr. Mazraani requested reconsideration of that decision.

The Federal Court of Appeal dismissed Mr. Mazraani’s appeal of the March 2023 order, subject to this Court’s decision on Mr. Mazraani’s request that his application for leave to appeal the May 12, 2023, orders be reconsidered. It ordered the Minister to advise the Federal Court of Appeal of the decision on reconsideration. It also dismissed Mr. Mazraani’s motion for a further extension of time to serve and file a supplemental appeal book, his informal request to include a transcript of the 2016 Tax Court hearing, and his informal request to serve and file a lengthier memorandum. On October 30, 2024, this Court informed Mr. Mazraani that his request for reconsideration would not be accepted for filing.