The plaintiffs brought a constitutional challenge against provisions of the Insurance Act, alleging the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) lacked adjudicative independence.
They obtained a motion judge's order under Rule 30.10 requiring the LAT to produce hundreds of internal records.
The LAT appealed.
The Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, finding the motion judge erred in her application of Rule 30.10.
The records were not relevant to a material issue because adjudicative independence in a specific case does not impact the constitutional validity of the tribunal's jurisdiction under s. 96 of the Constitution Act, 1867, nor does it engage s. 7 or s. 15 of the Charter.
The Court also clarified that deliberative secrecy applies to administrative tribunals to the same extent as courts.
