Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Act (S.C. 1989, c. 3)

Marginal note:Definition of communication record

• 29 (1) In this section, communication record means the whole or any part of any record, recording, copy, transcript or substantial summary of

  • (a) any type of communications respecting air traffic control or related matters that take place between any of the following persons, namely, air traffic controllers, aircraft crew members, airport vehicle operators, flight service station specialists and persons who relay messages respecting air traffic control or related matters,

  • (b) any type of communications respecting rail traffic control or related matters that take place between any of the following persons, namely, rail traffic controllers, train crew members, maintenance of way employees, signal maintainers, vehicle operators and persons who relay messages respecting rail traffic control or related matters,

  • (c) any type of communications respecting marine traffic regulation or related matters that take place between any of the following persons, namely, marine traffic regulators, persons designated under subsection 58(1) or section 76, 99 or 106 of the Canada Marine Act, ship crew members (including masters, officers, pilots and ice advisers), and staff of Coast Guard radio stations, rescue coordination centres and subcentres and harbour master offices,

  • (d) any type of communications respecting maritime distress, maritime safety or related matters

    • (i) that take place between any of the following persons, namely, Coast Guard radio station operators, ship crew members (including masters, officers, pilots and ice advisers), and staff of vessel traffic services centres, persons designated under subsection 58(1) or section 76, 99 or 106 of the Canada Marine Act, rescue coordination centres and subcentres, harbour master offices and ship agents’ offices, or

    • (ii) that take place between any person on shore and a ship via a Coast Guard radio station, or

  • (e) any type of communication respecting the operation of a pipeline that takes place between persons who are control room personnel, pumping station personnel, operating personnel or members of a maintenance crew or an emergency response crew.

• (2) to (5) [Repealed, 1998, c. 20, s. 18]

• Marginal note:Use prohibited

  (6) A communication record obtained under this Act shall not be used against any person referred to in subsection (1) in any legal proceedings or, subject to any applicable collective agreement, in any disciplinary proceedings.

Marginal note:Interpretation

• 30 (1) For the purposes of this section and section 19,

  • (a) statement means

    • (i) the whole or any part of an oral, written or recorded statement relating to a transportation occurrence and given, by the author of the statement, to the Board, an investigator or any person acting for the Board or for an investigator,

    • (ii) a transcription or substantial summary of a statement referred to in subparagraph (i), or

    • (iii) conduct that could reasonably be taken to be intended as such a statement; and

  • (b) where a statement is privileged, the identity of its author is privileged to the same extent.

• Marginal note:Statement privileged

  (2) A statement is privileged, and no person, including any person to whom access is provided under this section, shall knowingly communicate it or permit it to be communicated to any person except as provided by this Act or as authorized in writing by the person who made the statement.

• Marginal note:Use by Board

  (3) The Board may make such use of any statement as it considers necessary in the interests of transportation safety.

• Marginal note:Access by peace officers, coroners and other investigators

  (4) The Board shall make statements available to

  • (a) [Repealed, 1998, c. 20, s. 19]

  • (b) a coroner who requests access thereto for the purpose of an investigation that the coroner is conducting; or

  • (c) any person carrying out a coordinated investigation under section 18.

• Marginal note:Power of court or coroner

  (5) Notwithstanding anything in this section, where, in any proceedings before a court or coroner, a request for the production and discovery of a statement is contested on the ground that it is privileged, the court or coroner shall

  • (a) in camera, examine the statement; and

  • (b) if the court or coroner concludes in the circumstances of the case that the public interest in the proper administration of justice outweighs in importance the privilege attached to the statement by virtue of this section, order the production and discovery of the statement, subject to such restrictions or conditions as the court or coroner deems appropriate, and may require any person to give evidence that relates to the statement.

• Definition of court

  (6) For the purposes of subsection (5), court includes a person or persons appointed or designated to conduct a public inquiry into a transportation occurrence pursuant to this Act or the Inquiries Act.

• Marginal note:Use prohibited

  (7) A statement shall not be used against the person who made it in any legal or other proceedings except in a prosecution for perjury or for giving contradictory evidence or a prosecution under section 35.

Marginal note:Reporting of transportation occurrences

• 31 (1) The Board may, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations for the establishment and administration of systems for the mandatory or voluntary reporting to the Board of transportation occurrences or such classes thereof as are specified in the regulations.

• Marginal note:Use of reports

  (2) The Board may, subject to this section, make such use of any report made to it pursuant to regulations made under subsection (1) as it considers necessary in the interests of transportation safety.

• Marginal note:Rules for protection of identity

  (3) Regulations made under subsection (1) may include rules for the protection of the identity of persons who report transportation occurrences.

• Marginal note:Certain information privileged

  (4) Where the identity of a person who has made a report to the Board pursuant to regulations made under subsection (1) is protected by rules referred to in subsection (3), information that could reasonably be expected to reveal that identity is privileged, and no person shall

  • (a) knowingly communicate it or permit it to be communicated to any person; or

  • (b) be required to produce it or give evidence relating to it in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

• Marginal note:Use prohibited

  (5) A report made to the Board under a voluntary reporting system established by regulations made under subsection (1) shall not be used against the person who made the report in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings if the person’s identity is protected by rules referred to in subsection (3).

Evidence of Investigators

Marginal note:Appearance of investigator

32 Except for proceedings before and investigations by a coroner, an investigator is not competent or compellable to appear as a witness in any proceedings unless the court or other person or body before whom the proceedings are conducted so orders for special cause.

Marginal note:Opinions inadmissible

33 An opinion of a member or an investigator is not admissible in evidence in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

• 34 (1) The Board may, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations

  • (a) prescribing the manner of exercising or carrying out any of its powers, duties and functions under this Act and, generally, for its efficient operation;

  • (b) respecting the keeping and preservation of records, documents and other evidence relating to transportation occurrences;

  • (c) respecting the attendance of interested persons at tests to destruction conducted under subsection 19(5);

  • (d) defining, for the purposes of an investigation, the site or sites of a transportation occurrence and prescribing rules for the protection of those sites;

  • (e) for defining the rights or privileges of persons attending investigations as observers or with observer status;

  • (f) respecting the tariff of fees and expenses to be paid to any witness attending at an investigation or at a public inquiry conducted under subsection 21(1) and the conditions under which a fee or expenses may be paid to any such witness;

  • (g) respecting the procedures and rules to be followed in conducting public inquiries under subsection 21(1);

  • (h) respecting the forms of warrants issued under section 19 and the modifications to be made to section 487.1 of the Criminal Code in its application to section 19; and

  • (i) generally for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.

• Marginal note:Amending schedule

  (2) The Governor in Council may, by order, amend the schedule by deleting therefrom or adding thereto the name of any board, commission, body or office.

• Marginal note:Publication of proposed regulations

  (3) Subject to subsection (4), a copy of each regulation that the Board proposes to make under subsection (1) or section 31 shall be published in the Canada Gazette at least ninety days before the proposed effective date thereof, and a reasonable opportunity within those ninety days shall be afforded to interested persons to make representations to the Board with respect thereto.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (4) Subsection (3) does not apply in respect of a proposed regulation that

  • (a) has previously been published pursuant to that subsection, whether or not it has been changed as a result of representations made pursuant to that subsection; or

  • (b) makes no substantive change to an existing regulation.

Offences

Marginal note:Offences

• 35 (1) Every person who

  • (a) contravenes subsection 19(8), (10) or (11),

  • (b) without lawful excuse, wilfully resists or otherwise obstructs a member or an investigator in the execution of powers or duties under this Act or the regulations,

  • (c) knowingly gives false or misleading information at any investigation or public inquiry under this Act, or

  • (d) makes a report pursuant to section 31 that the person knows to be false or misleading

  is guilty of an indictable offence and liable on conviction to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years, or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

• Marginal note:Idem

  (2) Every person who contravenes a provision of this Act or the regulations for which no punishment is specified is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.

Marginal note:Evidence

• 36 (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3),

  • (a) a report purporting to have been signed by an investigator stating that the investigator has exercised any power pursuant to section 19 and stating the results of the exercise of the power, or

  • (b) a document purporting to have been certified by an investigator as a true copy of or extract from a document produced to the investigator pursuant to subsection 19(9)

  is admissible in evidence in any prosecution for an offence under this Act without proof of the signature or official character of the person appearing to have signed the report or certified the document and is, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, proof of the statements contained in the report or proof of the contents of the document.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (2) No report or document shall be received in evidence under subsection (1) unless the party intending to produce it has, at least seven days before producing it, served on the party against whom it is intended to be produced a notice of that intention, together with a copy of the report or document.

• Marginal note:Cross-examination

  (3) The party against whom a report or document is produced under subsection (1) may require the attendance, for the purposes of cross-examination, of the person who appears to have signed the report or certified the document as a true copy or extract.