Federal Public Sector Labour Relations Act (S.C. 2003, c. 22, s. 2)

Adjournment of Proceedings

Marginal note:Prejudice to ongoing investigations or proceedings

• 238.26 (1) An adjudicator or the Board must, on the request of the RCMP Commissioner or the employer, adjourn all proceedings in relation to any matter before the adjudicator or the Board under this Division or Part 2 that concerns a person who is or was an RCMP member or a reservist, if the adjudicator or the Board is satisfied that to continue those proceedings would prejudice an ongoing criminal investigation or an ongoing criminal or civil proceeding.

• Marginal note:Maximum period of adjournment

  (2) No adjournment may be for a period of more than 90 days. However, the RCMP Commissioner or the employer may request more than one adjournment in relation to a matter.

Law Enforcement, Public Safety and National Security

Marginal note:Non-disclosure

• 238.27 (1) The RCMP Commissioner may, in connection with any matter or proceeding before an adjudicator or the Board under this Division or Part 2 that concerns a person who is or was an RCMP member or a reservist, object to the disclosure to the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, or to a party of any information whose disclosure would, in that Commissioner’s opinion, be injurious to law enforcement, public safety or national security.

• Marginal note:Notice of objection

  (2) If the RCMP Commissioner objects to the disclosure of information under subsection (1), he or she must, as soon as feasible, give written notice of the objection and the reasons for it to the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, and to the parties.

• Marginal note:Other provisions do not apply

  (3) The RCMP Commissioner may object to the disclosure of information under subsection (1) despite any provision of this Act or the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board Act that would otherwise permit the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, to require that the information be disclosed.

• Marginal note:Former judge

  (4) If the RCMP Commissioner objects to the disclosure of information under subsection (1), the Minister must, at the written request of the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, or a party, appoint a former judge of a superior court of a province or the Federal Court to review the information and to make an order under section 238.28.

• Marginal note:Oath of secrecy

  (5) In order to be appointed, the former judge must obtain a security clearance from the Government of Canada and take the oath of secrecy prescribed by regulation.

• Marginal note:Notice of appointment

  (6) The Minister must provide notice to the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, to the parties and to the RCMP Commissioner when a former judge has been appointed in accordance with subsection (4). The adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, the parties and the RCMP Commissioner may make their representations to the former judge only within 30 days after the day on which the notice is sent or any longer period, not more than 60 days after the day on which the notice is sent, that the former judge may permit.

• Marginal note:Former judge to have access

  (7) The former judge is to have access to the information about which an objection is made under subsection (1) for the purposes of the review.

Marginal note:Order regarding disclosure

• 238.28 (1) Unless the former judge concludes that the disclosure of the information about which an objection is made under subsection 238.27(1) would be injurious to law enforcement, public safety or national security, the former judge must order that the RCMP Commissioner’s objection under section 238.27 to the disclosure of that information be dismissed.

• Marginal note:Disclosure required

  (2) If the former judge concludes that the disclosure of all or part of that information would be injurious to law enforcement, public safety or national security but that the public interest in disclosure outweighs in importance the public interest in non-disclosure, the former judge, after considering the public interest in disclosure, must order the RCMP Commissioner to disclose to the adjudicator, to the Board or to the party, as the case may be, all or that part of that information, a summary of that information or a written admission of facts relating to that information.

• Marginal note:No disclosure required

  (3) If the former judge does not make an order under subsection (1) or order disclosure under subsection (2), they must make an order upholding the RCMP Commissioner’s objection to the disclosure.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (4) The order of the former judge must be made within 30 days after the day on which the period referred to in subsection 238.27(6) expires or within any longer period, not more than 60 days after the day on which the period referred to in that subsection expires, that the Minister permits.

• Marginal note:Prohibition

  (5) The former judge must not include in their order any information that reveals information that they conclude must not be disclosed, or any information from which that information may be inferred.

• Marginal note:Order final

  (6) The former judge’s order is final and binding.

• Marginal note:Review

  (7) The RCMP Commissioner’s objection is not subject to review except to the extent and in the manner provided under this section.

Marginal note:Protection

• 238.29 (1) No criminal, civil or administrative action or proceeding lies against a former judge, or any person acting on their behalf or under their direction, for anything done, reported or said in good faith in the exercise or purported exercise of any power, or the performance or purported performance of any duty or function, of the former judge under sections 238.27 and 238.28.

• Marginal note:No summons

  (2) The former judge, or any person acting on their behalf or under their direction, is not, in respect of any matter coming to the knowledge of the former judge or that person as a result of exercising a power or performing a duty or function of the former judge, a competent or compellable witness in any proceeding other than a prosecution for an offence under this Act, the Foreign Interference and Security of Information Act or section 132 or 136 of the Criminal Code.

Marginal note:Use of information

238.3 Information about which an objection is made under subsection 238.27(1) that is disclosed by the RCMP Commissioner to an adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, or to a party in connection with the matter or proceeding that gave rise to the objection may be used only in connection with that matter or proceeding.

Marginal note:Memorandum of understanding

238.31 The Chairperson and the RCMP Commissioner may enter into a memorandum of understanding setting out principles and procedures respecting the disclosure of information referred to in subsection 238.27(1) and the protection of that information if it is disclosed.

Marginal note:Disclosure of information — other legal proceedings

• 238.32 (1) If the RCMP Commissioner discloses information about which an objection is made under subsection 238.27(1) to an adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, or to a party in connection with the matter or proceeding that gave rise to the objection, the adjudicator, the Board or that party is not to be required, in connection with any other criminal, civil or administrative action or proceeding, to give or produce evidence relating to that information.

• Marginal note:Application

  (2) Except as provided by any other Act of Parliament that expressly refers to it, this section applies despite any other Act of Parliament, other than the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

• Marginal note:Section prevails

  (3) This section applies despite subsection 13(1) of the Auditor General Act and subsection 79.3(1) of the Parliament of Canada Act.

Unique Role as Police Organization

Marginal note:Consideration

238.33 In considering a grievance that concerns an employee who is an RCMP member or a reservist, the adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, must take into account the unique role of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a police organization in protecting public safety and national security and its need to deploy its members and reservists as it sees fit.

Regulations

Marginal note:Regulations

238.34 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) prescribing the oath of secrecy referred to in subsection 238.27(5); and

• (b) respecting the measures that are to be taken by an adjudicator or the Board, as the case may be, or a party to protect the information referred to in subsection 238.27(1) that the adjudicator, the Board or the party has received from the RCMP Commissioner in connection with any matter or proceeding before the adjudicator or the Board under this Division or Part 2 that concerns a person who is or was an RCMP member or a reservist, and respecting the disclosure of that information by the adjudicator, the Board or the party to other persons or entities.

PART 3Occupational Health and Safety

Interpretation

Marginal note:Meaning of public service

239 In this Part, public service has the same meaning as in subsection 11(1) of the Financial Administration Act.

Part II of Canada Labour Code

Marginal note:Application to public service

240 Part II of the Canada Labour Code applies to and in respect of the public service and persons employed in it as if the public service were a federal work, undertaking or business referred to in that Part except that, for the purpose of that application,

• (a) any reference in that Part to

  • (i) “arbitration” is to be read as a reference to adjudication under Part 2 or Division 2 of Part 2.1,

  • (ii) for the purposes of sections 133 and 134 of the Canada Labour Code, Board is to be read as a reference to the Public Service Labour Relations and Employment Board,

  • (iii) a “collective agreement” is to be read as a reference to a collective agreement within the meaning of subsection 2(1),

  • (iv) “employee” is to be read as a reference to a person employed in the public service, and

  • (v) a “trade union” is to be read as a reference to an employee organization within the meaning of subsection 2(1) and includes, unless the context otherwise requires, a council of employee organizations within the meaning of that subsection;

• (b) [Repealed, 2017, c. 20, s. 396]

• (c) the provisions of this Act apply, with any necessary modifications, in respect of matters brought before the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.

PART 4General

Defects in Proceedings

Marginal note:Defect in form or irregularity

• 241 (1) No proceeding under this Act is invalid by reason only of a defect in form or a technical irregularity.

• Marginal note:Grievance process

  (2) The failure to present a grievance at all required levels in accordance with the applicable grievance process is not a defect in form or a technical irregularity for the purposes of subsection (1).

Restriction on Admissibility of Evidence

Marginal note:Admissibility

242 Except in the case of a prosecution for perjury,

• (a) testimony or proceedings before an arbitration board are not admissible in evidence in any court in Canada; and

• (b) reports of a public interest commission, and testimony or proceedings before a public interest commission, are not admissible in evidence in any court in Canada.

Protection

Marginal note:Evidence respecting information obtained

243 Members of arbitration boards, members of public interest commissions, mediators, adjudicators and persons seized of referrals under subsection 182(1) are not competent or compellable to appear as witnesses in any civil action, suit or other proceeding respecting information obtained in the discharge of their functions under this Act.