Anne-Marie McKitrick

The decision addresses a motion regarding the production and inspection of documents in an interpleader application brought by McAsphalt Industries Limited, a tenant on lands leased from the Fort William First Nation Development Corporation.

The City of Thunder Bay sought production of a 2017 Settlement Agreement and certain Addition to Reserve (ATR) Applications.

The court held that the 2017 Settlement Agreement should be produced for inspection, subject to the deemed undertaking rule, but refused to order production of the ATR Applications, finding they were not referred to in the relevant pleadings or affidavits and that their production was premature.

The court also declined to exempt the City from the deemed undertaking rule at this stage.

The City of Thunder Bay sought costs on a full indemnity basis after successfully obtaining an order for an arbitrator's appointment due to the respondent's refusal to participate in arbitration.

The court, having previously ordered full indemnity costs, reviewed the City's submissions.

Despite the respondent's failure to file submissions, the court found the application was made unnecessarily complex by the respondent's irrelevant assertions.

Applying the principles from Boucher et al. v. Public Accountants Council for the Province of Ontario, the court fixed costs at a reduced amount of $17,000 plus HST and disbursements, finding it fair and reasonable given the circumstances and the respondent's conduct.