Olivia French

Canada applied for an order declaring the respondent a vexatious litigant under s. 40 of the Federal Courts Act.

The respondent had instituted over 48 court proceedings since 1990, many of which were dismissed as frivolous, lacking a cause of action, or for failing to comply with court orders and rules.

He also had outstanding costs awards and openly admitted he would not abide by rules or orders he disagreed with.

The Federal Court declared the respondent a vexatious litigant and ordered that he must obtain leave before instituting new proceedings or continuing existing ones, and must pay all outstanding costs awards before seeking leave.

The plaintiffs sought to certify a class action on behalf of Indigenous female offenders, alleging that the Correctional Service of Canada's use of the Custody Rating Scale and other assessment tools improperly overclassified them into higher security levels.

The Federal Court dismissed the certification motion.

The Court found that the pleadings failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action for negligence or breaches of sections 7 and 15 of the Charter.

Furthermore, the Court held that the proposed common issues were intrinsically individualistic, a class proceeding was not the preferable procedure, and the proposed representative plaintiffs were unsuitable.