Liliane Bruneau

The applicant, a judge facing complaints before the Inquiry Committee of the Canadian Judicial Council, sought judicial review of an interlocutory decision by the Committee regarding preliminary matters.

The Attorney General of Canada moved to strike the application as premature.

The applicant brought a motion to stay the proceedings pending the outcome of a leave to appeal application before the Supreme Court of Canada regarding previous struck applications.

The Federal Court dismissed the motion for a stay and granted the motion to strike, concluding that the application for judicial review of the interlocutory decision was premature as it did not raise exceptional circumstances calling into question the rule of law.

The applicant, a federally appointed judge, sought a stay of an impending Canadian Judicial Council inquiry into his conduct pending the determination of several judicial review applications challenging the validity of the complaints process.

The Federal Court dismissed the motion for a stay, finding that the underlying judicial review applications were premature because the administrative process was ongoing.

The Court held that the applicant failed to meet the three-part test for a stay, specifically noting that the issues were not serious as they were premature, and that the harm alleged was inherent to the disciplinary process and not irreparable.