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

Marginal note:Agreements with provinces

• 15.1 (1) The Board may enter into an agreement with a province concerning the exercise by the Board of powers and functions relating to investigations into transportation accidents, incidents and situations or conditions that could, if left unattended, induce an accident or incident that are within the legislative authority of the province. The agreement must provide that the province undertakes to be liable to the Board for any reasonable costs incurred by the Board in the investigation.

• Marginal note:Limitation

  (2) Under an agreement with a province, the Board shall only exercise powers and functions compatible with section 7 and all other provisions of this Act.

Marginal note:Compatible procedures and practices

16 The Board shall take all reasonable measures to ensure that the investigation procedures and practices that it follows in relation to transportation occurrences are compatible with

• (a) any international agreements or conventions to which Canada is a party, and

• (b) investigation procedures and practices followed by coroners in the provinces and by regulatory bodies established to administer petroleum activities in offshore areas,

and the Board shall make all reasonable efforts to enter into agreements with the governments of the provinces and with those regulatory bodies in order to ensure that the procedures and practices followed by the Board are as compatible as possible with those followed by coroners in the provinces and by those regulatory bodies.

Marginal note:Agreements

17 The Board shall make all reasonable efforts to enter into agreements with Ministers responsible for departments

• (a) providing for the coordination of activities between the Board and departments with respect to transportation occurrences, including investigation procedures and practices and requirements for reporting transportation occurrences; and

• (b) providing for procedures to be followed in the event that conflicting interests arise between the Board and a department during their activities with respect to transportation occurrences.

Marginal note:Definitions

• 18 (1) In this section,

  civil transportation facility

  civil transportation facility means

  • (a) an installation designed or used to facilitate the operation or maintenance of an aircraft or ship,

  • (b) a railway, or

  • (c) a pipeline

  that is not a military transportation facility; (installation de transport civile)

  military conveyance

  military conveyance means an aircraft, ship, rolling stock, motor vehicle or any other machine designed for movement from place to place, that is operated by or on behalf of the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces or a visiting force; (moyen de transport militaire)

  military transportation facility

  military transportation facility means

  • (a) an installation designed or used to facilitate the operation or maintenance of an aircraft, ship, motor vehicle or any other machine designed for movement from place to place,

  • (b) a railway, or

  • (c) a pipeline

  that is operated by or on behalf of the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces or a visiting force; (installation de transport militaire)

  visiting force

  visiting force means a visiting force as defined in section 2 of the Visiting Forces Act. (force étrangère présente au Canada)

• Marginal note:Military conveyance or military transportation facility

  (2) Subject to subsection (3), the Board shall not investigate a transportation occurrence that involves a military conveyance or military transportation facility.

• Marginal note:Where Board may investigate

  (3) The Board may investigate a transportation occurrence that involves

  • (a) a military conveyance and an aircraft, ship or rolling stock none of which is a military conveyance;

  • (b) a military conveyance and a civil transportation facility; or

  • (c) a military transportation facility and an aircraft, ship or rolling stock none of which is a military conveyance.

• Marginal note:Investigations to be coordinated

  (4) If a transportation occurrence referred to in subsection (3) is being investigated by the Board and by the Department of National Defence, the Canadian Forces or a visiting force, the Board and either the Minister of National Defence or the Authority designated under section 12 of the Aeronautics Act shall take all reasonable measures to ensure that the investigations are coordinated.

Marginal note:Powers of investigators

• 19 (1) Where an investigator believes on reasonable grounds that there is, or may be, at or in any place, any thing relevant to the conduct of an investigation of a transportation occurrence, the investigator may, subject to subsection (2), enter and search that place for any such thing, and seize any such thing that is found in the course of that search.

• Marginal note:Conditions for exercise of powers under subsection (1)

  (2) An investigator shall not exercise the powers referred to in subsection (1) in relation to a particular place without the consent of the person apparently in charge of that place unless

  • (a) those powers are so exercised in relation to that place 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:Issue of warrant authorizing exercise of powers under subsection (1)

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

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

  (4) 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 34(1)(h).

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

  (5) Where any thing is seized by an investigator under subsection (1), the investigator

  • (a) may, subject to paragraph (b), cause such tests, including tests to destruction, to be conducted on the thing as are necessary for the purposes of the investigation in respect of which the thing was seized;

  • (b) shall, to the extent that it is practical and safe to do so and does not unreasonably impede 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 any tests referred to in paragraph (a), and

    • (ii) allow persons referred to in subparagraph (i) 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 in accordance with section 20.

• Marginal note:Power to exclude persons from particular areas

  (6) An investigator may, for the purposes of preserving and protecting any thing involved or likely to have been involved in a transportation occurrence, 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 such period as is necessary for the purposes of the investigation of the transportation occurrence.

• Marginal note:Disruption to be minimized

  (7) In exercising the power conferred by subsection (6), an investigator shall have regard to the desirability of minimizing any resulting disruption to transportation services.

• Marginal note:Offence in respect of exclusion order

  (8) No person shall knowingly enter an area in contravention of a prohibition or limitation of access pursuant to subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Additional powers of investigators

  (9) An investigator who is investigating a transportation occurrence may

  • (a) where the investigator believes on reasonable grounds that a person is in possession of information relevant to that investigation,

    • (i) by notice in writing signed by the investigator, require the person to produce the information to the investigator or to attend before the investigator and give a statement referred to in section 30, under oath or solemn affirmation if required by the investigator, and

    • (ii) make such copies of or take such extracts from the information as the investigator deems necessary for the purposes of the investigation;

  • (b) where the investigator believes on reasonable grounds that the medical examination of a person who is directly or indirectly involved in the operation of an aircraft, ship, rolling stock or pipeline is, or may be, relevant to the investigation, by notice in writing signed by the investigator, require the person to submit to a medical examination;

  • (c) where the investigator believes on reasonable grounds that a physician or other health practitioner has information concerning a patient that is relevant to that investigation, by notice in writing signed by the investigator, require the physician or practitioner to provide that information to the investigator; or

  • (d) where the investigator believes on reasonable grounds that the performance of an autopsy on the body of a deceased person, or the carrying out of other medical examinations of human remains, is, or may be, relevant to the conduct of the investigation, cause such an autopsy or medical examination to be performed and, for that purpose, by notice in writing signed by the investigator, require the person having custody of the body of the deceased person or other human remains to permit the performance of that autopsy or that medical examination.

• Marginal note:Persons to comply with requirements imposed under paragraph (9)(a), (c) or (d)

  (10) 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 (9)(a), or to provide information in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (9)(c) or to make the body of a deceased person or other human remains available for the performance of an autopsy or medical examination in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (9)(d).

• Marginal note:Persons to comply with requirements imposed under paragraph (9)(b)

  (11) No person shall refuse or fail to submit to a medical examination in accordance with a requirement imposed under paragraph (9)(b), but information obtained pursuant to such an examination is privileged and, subject to the power of the Board to make such use of it as the Board considers necessary in the interests of transportation safety, 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:Certificate to be produced

  (12) Before acting under this section, an investigator shall, on request, produce the investigator’s certificate of appointment to any person in relation to whom the investigator acts.

• Marginal note:Meaning of medical examination for certain purposes

  (13) The requirement under subsection (9) that a person submit to a medical examination shall not be construed as a requirement that the person 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:Idem

  (14) Nothing in this section shall be taken

  • (a) to imply that a thing seized pursuant to subsection (1) may not be an aircraft, a ship, an item of rolling stock or a pipeline, or any part thereof; or

  • (b) to authorize the exercise of a power by an investigator in circumstances where the exercise of that power would be inconsistent with section 18.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (15) 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.

  (15.1) Where an investigator has required a person to do something under paragraph (9)(a), (b), (c) or (d) and the person has refused 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 the punishment of the person as if the person had been guilty of contempt of the court, or may make such other order as it finds appropriate.

• Marginal note:Definitions

  (16) In this section,

  document

  document[Repealed, 1998, c. 20, s. 13]

  information

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

  place

  place includes

  • (a) an aircraft, a ship, rolling stock, any other vessel or vehicle and a pipeline, and

  • (b) any premises or any building or other structure erected on those premises. (lieu)