Aeronautics Act (R.S.C., 1985, c. A-2)

Authorization by Minister

Marginal note:Power

11 The Minister may authorize any person or class of persons to exercise or perform, subject to any restrictions or conditions that the Minister specifies, any of the powers, duties or functions of the Minister under this Part.

Airworthiness Investigative Authority

Marginal note:Airworthiness Investigative Authority

• 12 (1) The Minister shall designate from among the members of the Canadian Forces or the employees of the Department of National Defence an individual to be the Airworthiness Investigative Authority, who is to be responsible for advancing aviation safety by

  • (a) investigating military-civilian occurrences, in order to find their causes and contributing factors;

  • (b) identifying safety deficiencies as evidenced by military-civilian occurrences;

  • (c) making recommendations designed to eliminate or reduce any of those safety deficiencies; and

  • (d) providing reports to the Minister on the investigations and the findings in relation to them.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (2) In making findings in an investigation of a military-civilian occurrence, it is not the Authority’s function to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability, but the Authority shall not refrain from making a full report merely because fault or liability might be inferred from the Authority’s findings.

• Marginal note:Restriction

  (3) No finding of the Authority may be construed as assigning fault or determining civil or criminal liability.

• Marginal note:Findings not binding

  (4) The Authority’s findings are not binding on the parties to any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

Investigations of Military-Civilian Occurrences

Investigations

Marginal note:Investigators

• 13 (1) The Authority may act as an investigator under this Part with respect to a military-civilian occurrence, and may designate as an investigator to investigate such an occurrence in accordance with this Part on the Authority’s behalf any person, or member of a class of persons, that the Authority considers qualified.

• Marginal note:Certificate

  (2) The Authority shall give a designated investigator a certificate of designation specifying the terms of their designation.

• Marginal note:Report

  (3) A designated investigator shall report to the Authority with respect to the investigation of a military-civilian occurrence.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 14 (1) The following definitions apply in this section.

  information

  information includes a record regardless of its form and a copy of a record. (renseignement)

  place

  place includes an aircraft, any premises and any building or other structure erected on those premises. (lieu)

• Marginal note:Powers of investigators

  (2) If an investigator believes on reasonable grounds that there is or might be, at or in any place, any thing relevant to the investigation of a military-civilian occurrence, the investigator may, subject to subsection (3), enter and search that place for such a thing, and seize any such thing that is found in the course of that search, including an aircraft or part of one.

• Marginal note:Conditions for exercise of powers

  (3) An investigator shall not exercise the powers referred to in subsection (2) in relation to a particular place without the consent of the person apparently in charge of that place unless

  • (a) those powers are exercised under the authority of a warrant; or

  • (b) by reason of exigent circumstances, it would not be practical for the investigator to obtain a warrant.

• Marginal note:Warrant

  (4) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath that an investigator believes on reasonable grounds that there is or might be, at or in any place, any thing relevant to the investigation of a military-civilian occurrence, the justice may, on ex parte application, sign and issue a warrant authorizing the investigator to enter and search that place for such a thing and to seize any such thing that is found in the course of that search.

• Marginal note:Warrants may be obtained by telephone, etc.

  (5) The procedure set out in section 487.1 of the Criminal Code applies in relation to the obtaining of warrants under this section, subject to regulations made under paragraph 24.5(1)(g).

• Marginal note:Power to test things seized, etc.

  (6) If any thing is seized by an investigator under subsection (2), the investigator

  • (a) may, subject to paragraph (b), cause to be conducted on the thing any tests, including tests to destruction, that are necessary for the purposes of the investigation;

  • (b) shall, to the extent that it is practical and safe to do so without unreasonably impeding the progress of the investigation,

    • (i) take all reasonable measures to invite the owner of the thing, and any person who appears on reasonable grounds to be entitled to it, to be present at such tests, and

    • (ii) allow them to be present at those tests; and

  • (c) subject to the need to conduct such tests, shall cause the thing to be preserved pending its return under section 15.

• Marginal note:Power to prohibit or limit access

  (7) An investigator may, in the course of an investigation of a military-civilian occurrence, and for the purposes of preserving and protecting any thing involved or likely to have been involved, whether or not the thing has been seized under this section, prohibit or limit access to the area immediately surrounding the place at which the thing is located for any period that is necessary for the purposes of the investigation.

• Marginal note:Disruption to be minimized

  (8) In exercising the power conferred by subsection (7), an investigator shall have regard to the desirability of minimizing any resulting disruption to transportation services.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (9) No person shall knowingly enter an area in contravention of a prohibition or limitation of access under subsection (7).

• Marginal note:Additional powers of investigators

  (10) An investigator may do any of the following, on notice in writing to the person concerned, if their belief is based on reasonable grounds:

  • (a) if the investigator believes that a person has information relevant to an investigation,

    • (i) require the person to produce the information to the investigator or to attend before the investigator and give a statement referred to in section 24.1, under oath or solemn affirmation if required by the investigator, and

    • (ii) make any copies of and take any extracts from the information that the investigator considers necessary for the purposes of the investigation;

  • (b) require a person who is directly or indirectly involved in the operation of an aircraft to submit to a medical examination, if the investigator believes that the examination is or might be relevant to the investigation;

  • (c) require a physician or health practitioner to provide information concerning a patient to the investigator, if the investigator believes that the information is or might be relevant to the investigation; or

  • (d) require the person who has custody of the body of a deceased person or other human remains to permit the performance of an autopsy on the body or other medical examination on the remains, and cause it to be performed, if the investigator believes that the autopsy or other medical examination is or might be relevant to the investigation.

• Marginal note:Offence — paragraph (10)(a), (c) or (d)

  (11) No person shall refuse or fail to produce information to an investigator, or to attend before an investigator and give a statement, in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (10)(a), to provide information in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (10)(c) or to make the body of a deceased person or other human remains available for the performance of an autopsy or other medical examination in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (10)(d).

• Marginal note:Offence — paragraph (10)(b)

  (12) No person shall refuse or fail to submit to a medical examination in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (10)(b), but information obtained as a result of such an examination is privileged and, subject to the Authority’s power to make any use of it that the Authority considers necessary in the interests of aviation safety, no person shall knowingly communicate it or permit it to be communicated to any person.

• Marginal note:Legal proceedings

  (13) No person is to be required to produce information referred to in subsection (12) or to give evidence relating to it in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

• Marginal note:Certificate to be produced

  (14) Before acting under this section, an investigator shall, on request, produce their certificate of designation to any person in relation to whom the investigator acts.

• Marginal note:Meaning of medical examination

  (15) The requirement under paragraph (10)(b) that a person submit to a medical examination does not require the person to submit to any procedure involving surgery, perforation of the skin or any external tissue or the entry into the body of any drug or foreign substance.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (16) In executing a warrant under this section, an investigator shall not use force unless the investigator is accompanied by a peace officer and the use of force is specifically authorized in the warrant.

• Marginal note:Failure to produce document, etc.

  (17) If an investigator has required a person to do something under subsection (10) and the person has refused or failed to do as required, the investigator may make an application to the Federal Court or a superior court of a province setting out the facts, and the court may inquire into the matter and, after giving the person an opportunity to comply with the requirement, take steps for their punishment as if they had been guilty of contempt of the court, or may make any other order that it considers appropriate.

Marginal note:Return of seized property

• 15 (1) Anything seized under section 14 — except on-board recordings as defined in subsection 22(1) — shall, as soon as possible after it has served the purpose for which it was seized, be returned to the owner or the person who appears on reasonable grounds to be entitled to it, or to the person from whom it was seized, unless

  • (a) the owner or the person who appears on reasonable grounds to be entitled to it consents otherwise in writing; or

  • (b) a court of competent jurisdiction orders otherwise.

• Marginal note:Application for return

  (2) A person from whom anything was seized under section 14 — except on-board recordings as defined in subsection 22(1) — or the owner or any other person who appears on reasonable grounds to be entitled to it may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction for an order that the seized thing be returned to them.

• Marginal note:Order for return

  (3) If, on an application under subsection (2), the court is satisfied that the seized thing has served the purpose for which it was seized or should, in the interests of justice, be returned to the applicant, the court may grant the application and order the seized thing to be returned to the applicant, subject to any terms that appear necessary or desirable to ensure that the thing is safeguarded and preserved for any purpose for which it might subsequently be required by the Authority under this Act.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (4) This section does not apply in respect of anything seized and tested to destruction in accordance with subsection 14(6).

Miscellaneous Provisions

Marginal note:Notification of Authority

• 16 (1) If a department is notified of a military-civilian occurrence, the department shall

  • (a) immediately provide the Authority with particulars of the occurrence; and

  • (b) as soon as feasible after complying with paragraph (a), advise the Authority of any investigation that it plans to conduct and of any remedial measures that it plans to take.

• Marginal note:Investigator as observer

  (2) An investigator authorized by the Authority may attend as an observer at an investigation conducted by the department or during the taking of remedial measures by the department following a military-civilian occurrence.

• Marginal note:Authority may review and comment

  (3) Subject to any other Act or law, the Authority shall, on request, be provided with, and may review and comment on, any interim or final report prepared in respect of an investigation conducted by the department.

Marginal note:Notification by Authority

• 17 (1) If the Authority is notified of a military-civilian occurrence, the Authority shall

  • (a) immediately provide particulars of the occurrence to any minister responsible for a department that has a direct interest in the occurrence; and

  • (b) as soon as feasible after complying with paragraph (a), advise the ministers referred to in paragraph (a) of any investigation that the Authority plans to conduct and of its scope.

• Marginal note:Observers

  (2) Subject to any conditions that the Authority imposes, a person may attend as an observer at an investigation of a military-civilian occurrence conducted by the Authority if the person

  • (a) is designated as an observer by the minister responsible for a department that has a direct interest in the subject matter of the investigation;

  • (b) has observer status or is an accredited representative or an adviser to an accredited representative, under an international agreement, convention or arrangement relating to transportation to which Canada is a party; or

  • (c) is invited by the Authority to attend as an observer because, in the Authority’s opinion, the person has a direct interest in the subject matter of the investigation and is likely to contribute to achieving its object.

• Marginal note:Observer may be removed

  (3) The Authority may remove an observer from an investigation if the observer contravenes a condition imposed by the Authority or if, in the Authority’s opinion, the observer’s participation is likely to create a situation of conflict of interest that will impede the conduct of the investigation.

Marginal note:Report to the Minister

• 18 (1) On completion of an investigation, the Authority shall provide a report to the Minister on the Authority’s findings, including any safety deficiencies that the Authority has identified and any recommendations relating to aviation safety that the Authority considers appropriate.

• Marginal note:Representations on draft report

  (2) Before providing the report to the Minister, the Authority shall, on a confidential basis, send a copy of the draft report on the investigation’s findings and any safety deficiencies identified to each minister responsible for a department that has a direct interest in the findings, as well as to any other person who, in the Authority’s opinion, has a direct interest in the findings, and shall give that minister or other person a reasonable opportunity to make representations to the Authority with respect to the draft report before the final report is prepared.

• Marginal note:Confidentiality of draft report

  (3) No person shall communicate or use the draft report, or permit its communication or use, for any purpose — other than the taking of remedial measures — that is not strictly necessary to the study of the draft report or to the making of representations with respect to it.

• Marginal note:Manner of dealing with representations

  (4) The Authority shall

  • (a) receive representations made under subsection (2) in any manner the Authority considers appropriate;

  • (b) keep a record of those representations;

  • (c) consider those representations before providing the final report to the Minister; and

  • (d) notify in writing each of the persons who made those representations, indicating how the Authority has disposed of the representations made by that person.

• Marginal note:Protection of representations

  (5) A representation is privileged, except for one made by a minister responsible for a department that has a direct interest in the findings of the investigation. Subject to any other provisions of this Part or to a written authorization from the author of a representation, 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.

• Marginal note:Use by Authority

  (6) The Authority may use representations as the Authority considers necessary in the interests of aviation safety.

• Marginal note:Making representations available to coroner

  (7) If requested to do so by a coroner conducting an investigation into any circumstances in respect of which representations were made to the Authority, the Authority shall make them available to the coroner.

• Marginal note:Prohibition of use

  (8) Except for use by a coroner for the purpose of an investigation, no person is to use representations in any legal, disciplinary or other proceedings.

• Marginal note:Notification of findings and recommendations

  (9) The Authority shall

  • (a) during an investigation of a military-civilian occurrence, immediately notify in writing any minister or person who, in the Authority’s opinion, has a direct interest in the investigation’s findings, of any of his or her findings and recommendations, whether interim or final, that, in the Authority’s opinion, require urgent action; and

  • (b) on completion of the investigation, notify in writing any minister or person who, in the Authority’s opinion, has a direct interest in the investigation’s findings, of his or her findings as to the causes and contributing factors of the military-civilian occurrence, any safety deficiencies he or she has identified and any recommendations resulting from his or her findings.

• Marginal note:Minister to reply to Authority

  (10) A minister, other than the Minister of National Defence, who is notified under subsection (9) of any findings and recommendations on matters relating to defence shall, within 90 days after the day on which they were notified,

  • (a) advise the Minister and the Authority in writing of any action taken or proposed to be taken in response to those findings and recommendations; or

  • (b) provide written reasons to the Minister and the Authority if no action will be taken or if the action to be taken differs from the action that was recommended.

• Marginal note:Extension of time

  (11) If the Authority is satisfied that a minister is unable to reply within the period referred to in subsection (10), the period may be extended as the Authority considers necessary.