# Federal Court (Canada)

The Federal Court (French: Cour fédérale) is a Canadian trial court that hears cases arising under certain areas of federal law. The Federal Court is a superior court with nationwide jurisdiction.

## History

The court was created on July 2, 2003, by the Courts Administration Service Act when it and the Federal Court of Appeal were split from their predecessor, the Federal Court of Canada (which had been created June 1, 1971, through the enactment of the Federal Court Act, subsequently renamed the Federal Courts Act). The court's authority comes from the Federal Courts Act.
On October 24, 2008, the Federal Court was given its own armorial bearings by the Governor General, the third court in Canada to be given its own coat of arms – after the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The coat of arms features a newly created fantastical creature, the winged sea caribou, as the supporters, representing the provision of justice on air, land and sea.

## Structure

The Federal Court consists of a chief justice, an associate chief justice, and 35 full-time judges, along with nine supernumerary judges, and eight associate judges.
Law clerks are hired for not more than a one-year terms to help the judges research and prepare decisions. They are generally assigned to a particular judge.
Judges' salaries are determined annually by the Judicial Compensation and Benefits Commission. The chief justice receives $315,900, while other judges receive $288,100 annually.

### Administration

The Courts Administration Service provides registry services to multiple Canadian courts, including the Federal Court. The Federal Court Registry is located in Ottawa, with regional offices throughout the country. The Registry in Ottawa maintains all original court files, with certified copies maintained in regional offices. The Registry provides clerical services and other administrative support to the Court, and provides clerical services and procedural guidance to litigants.

## Jurisdiction

The Federal Court cannot hear any case unless a federal statute confers jurisdiction on the court to hear cases of that type.
The Federal Court hears cases in the following areas of law:
* Administrative law
* Citizenship, immigration and refugee law
* Judicial review of Veterans Review and Appeal Board of Canada decisions,
* Intellectual property law,
* Admiralty (maritime) law,
* National security law,
* Cases involving federally-regulated industries such as railway tariff disputes,
* Aboriginal law, and
* Claims against the Crown in right of Canada.
These instances of jurisdiction may either be exclusive or concurrent with provincial superior courts, depending on the statute. The court has the authority to judicially review the decisions made by federal boards, commissions, and administrative tribunals, and to resolve lawsuits by or against the federal government.
More than 50% of the court's workload consists of immigration and refugee cases.
Decisions of the Federal Court may be appealed to the Federal Court of Appeal. Because it is a superior court of national jurisdiction, judgments are enforceable across Canada without the need for certification by the courts of a specific province.

## Judges and associate judges

| Name | Appointed | Nominated by | Position prior to appointment |
| Paul S. Crampton (Chief Justice) | 2009 2011 (as Chief Justice) | Harper | Lawyer at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP |
| Jocelyne Gagné (Associate Chief Justice) | 2012 2018 (as Associate Chief Justice) | Harper Trudeau | Lawyer at Lavery, de Billy LLP |
| Elizabeth Heneghan | 1999 | Chrétien | Lawyer (Sole Practitioner) |
| James O'Reilly (Supernumerary) | 2002 | Chrétien | Executive Legal Officer of the Supreme Court of Canada |
| Richard Mosley (Supernumerary) | 2003 | Chrétien | Assistant Deputy Minister, Criminal Law and Social Policy |
| Russel W. Zinn (Supernumerary) | 2008 | Harper | Lawyer at Ogilvy Renault LLP |
| Catherine Kane | 2012 | Harper | Department of Justice Senior General Counsel |
| Michael D. Manson | 2012 | Harper | Lawyer at Smart & Biggar |
| Yvan Roy | 2012 | Harper | Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet |
| Cecily Strickland | 2012 | Harper | Lawyer at Stewart McKelvey LLP |
| Glennys L. McVeigh | 2013 | Harper | Senior Counsel at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada |
| Martine St-Louis | 2014 | Harper | Lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault |
| Henry S. Brown | 2014 | Harper | Lawyer at Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP |
| Alan Diner | 2014 | Harper | Lawyer at Baker & McKenzie LLP |
| Simon Fothergill | 2014 | Harper | Counsel with the Privy Council of Canada |
| B. Richard Bell | 2015 | Harper | Court of Appeal of New Brunswick |
| Denis Gascon | 2015 | Harper | Lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada |
| Richard F. Southcott | 2015 | Harper | Vice President and General Counsel at Irving Shipbuilding Inc. |
| Patrick K. Gleeson | 2015 | Harper | Senior Legal Advisor at Judge Advocate General |
| Susan Elliott | 2015 | Harper | Lawyer at Good Elliott Hawkins LLP |
| Ann Marie McDonald | 2015 | Harper | Lawyer at McInnes Cooper |
| Roger Lafrenière (Supernumerary) | 2017 | Trudeau | Prothonotary at Federal Court |
| William F. Pentney | 2017 | Trudeau | Deputy Minister of Justice and Deputy Attorney General of Canada |
| Shirzad S. Ahmed | 2017 | Trudeau | Lawyer (Sole Practitioner) |
| Sébastien Grammond | 2017 | Trudeau | Professor and Dean of Civil Law at University of Ottawa |
| Paul Favel | 2017 | Trudeau | Lawyer at McKercher LLP |
| Elizabeth Walker | 2018 | Trudeau | Chair, RCMP External Review Committee |
| John Norris | 2018 | Trudeau | Lawyer, Sole Practitioner |
| Peter George Pamel | 2019 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais LLP |
| Nicholas McHaffie | 2019 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Stikeman Elliott LLP |
| Janet M. Fuhrer | 2019 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Rideout & Maybee |
| Christine Pallotta | 2020 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Borden Ladner Gervais |
| Andrew D. Little | 2020 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Bennett Jones |
| Angela Furlanetto | 2021 | Trudeau | Prothonotary at Federal Court |
| Lobat Sadrehashemi | 2021 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Immigration and Refugee Legal Clinic, Vancouver |
| Avvy Yao-Yao Go | 2021 | Trudeau | Clinic Director, Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic |
| Mandy Aylen | 2021 | Trudeau | Prothonotary at Federal Court |
| Vanessa Rochester | 2021 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP |
| Guy Regimbald | 2022 | Trudeau | Lawyer at Gowling WLG |
| Ekaterina Tsimberis | 2023 | Trudeau | Smart & Biggar |
| Anne Turley | 2023 | Trudeau | Department of Justice |
| Negar Azmudeh | 2023 | Trudeau | Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Phuong Ngo | 2023 | Trudeau | Gowling WLG |
The associate judges of the court by seniority are:
* Mireille Tabib
* Martha Milczynski
* Kevin R. Aalto
* Kathleen Marie Ring
* Alexandra Steele
* Sylvie M. Molgat
* Catherine A. Coughlan
* L.E. Trent Horne

## Former judges
### Chief Justice

* Allan Lutfy: July 3, 2003 – September 30, 2011

### Puisne judges

| Name | Date of appointment |
| Paul U.C. Rouleau | July 3, 2003 – July 25, 2007 |
| Max M. Teitlebaum | July 3, 2003 – January 27, 2007 |
| W. Andrew MacKay | July 3, 2003 – March 20, 2004 |
| Frederick E. Gibson | July 3, 2003 – August 30, 2008 |
| James K. Hugessen | July 3, 2003 – July 26, 2008 |
| Pierre Blais, P.C. | July 3, 2003 – February 19, 2008 |
| Eleanor Dawson | July 3, 2003 – December 26, 2009 |
| Carolyn Layden-Stevenson | July 3, 2003 – December 12, 2008 |
| Johanne Gauthier | July 3, 2003 – October 21, 2011 |
| Konrad W. von Finckenstein | August 14, 2003 – January 25, 2007 |
| Robert M. Mainville | June 16, 2009 – June 18, 2010 |
| Yvon Pinard, P.C. | June 19, 1984 – July 1, 2013 |
| Robin Camp | June 26, 2015 – March 9, 2017 |