Practice Direction No. 4

Access to Audio Recordings

Notice of Amendment:
 Effective January 14, 2025, Practice Direction No. 4 issued on January 17, 2012, and amended on March 1, 2016, is revoked and replaced by Practice Direction No. 4 found below.

 

  1. All hearings and case management conferences are audio recorded by the Tribunal. This Practice Direction establishes general rules for accessing these audio recordings for parties, intervenors or applicants. The goal of these rules is to ensure that parties can use audio recordings effectively while protecting privileged or confidential information from the public.
  2. Tribunal hearings are public, whereas case management conferences are not Tribunal hearings and are not public.

Access to Audio Recordings of Hearings 

  1. Ten days after a Tribunal hearing, the Registry will provide access to audio recordings to all participants—parties, applicants or intervenors—who were present at the hearing. No request is necessary. Audio recordings of hearings are not to be published or distributed in any way—except for the purpose of producing transcripts—and shall be used only by counsel for the purposes of the proceedings.
  2. If a hearing participant wishes to restrict access to an audio recording, they must inform the Tribunal of their position within 10 days following the hearing.

Access to Audio Recordings of Case Management Conferences

  1. Because confidential and settlement discussions often occur during case management conferences, the Registry does not provide access to audio recordings of these conferences without a request from a participant—a party, an applicant or an intervenor—who was present at the conference. Access to case management conference recordings is at the discretion of the Tribunal member who presides over the case management conference. Requests must be submitted electronically using the Tribunal’s E-Filing application. If approved, access will be granted following a 10-day period to allow for potential objections. Access is granted only to the requester: other participants will need to submit their own requests. Audio recordings of case management conferences are not to be published or distributed in any way—except for the purpose of producing transcripts—and shall be used only by counsel for the purposes of the proceedings.
  2. A copy of a request for a case management conference audio recording must be provided to the other participants who were present at the conference as soon as it is submitted electronically. If a participant wishes to restrict access to an audio recording, they must inform the Tribunal of their position within 10 days of receiving a copy of the request.

Requirement to Provide Transcripts

  1. If a party, an intervenor or an applicant produces official transcripts from an audio recording provided by the Tribunal, these must be filed with the Tribunal.
  2. The Tribunal is not responsible for the costs of producing transcripts.

Additional Considerations

  1. The Tribunal member who presides over a hearing or case management conference may:
    1. order additional conditions for accessing an audio recording by a party, applicant or intervenor; and
    2. deny access to an audio recording, edit or redact an audio recording, if the presiding Tribunal member determines that the matters discussed are confidential, privileged or do not affect the requester’s interests.
  2. The Chairperson of the Tribunal may, in the absence of the presiding Tribunal member or at the presiding Tribunal member’s request, act on behalf of the presiding Tribunal member.

Honourable Victoria Chiappetta, Chairperson
Specific Claims Tribunal