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A-268-74
Dario Pennacchio (Appellant)
v.
Minister of Manpower and Immigration (Respondent)
Court of Appeal, Jackett C.J., Thurlow and Pratte JJ.—Ottawa, November 12, 1974.
Jurisdiction—Immigration—Deportation order—Applica- tion for order setting aside, on consent—Material neces- sary—Immigration Appeal Board Act, R.S.C. 1970, c. I-3, s. 23—Federal Court Act, s. 52(c), Federal Court Rule 324.
The general powers of the Court of Appeal are set in section 52 of the Federal Court Act but the powers are limited where appeals are taken from the decisions of the Immigration Appeal Board by section 23 of the Immigration Appeal Board Act. There is no objection in principle to a consent judgment being given where the judgment appealed from is founded on error of law or jurisdiction (grounds of appeal provided in section 23 of the Immigration Appeal Board Act). If the parties agree that the judgment below was open to such an objection and that it should be set aside accordingly, the substance of the objection and the facts giving rise to it should be set out in the consent, with some reference to where such facts appeared in the record before this Court. The order of this Court should set out succinctly the reason why this Court adjudges that the judgment appealed from should be set aside.
APPLICATION in writing under Rule 324. COUNSEL:
D. C. Besant for appellant. H. Erlichman for respondent.
SOLICITORS:
Amourgis & Amourgis, Toronto, for
appellant.
Deputy Attorney General of Canada for respondent.
The following are the reasons for judgment delivered in English by
THURLOW J.: In this appeal an application has been made pursuant to Rule 324 for an order allowing the appeal, setting aside the order under appeal, and remitting the matter to the Immigration Appeal Board to be re-heard. In support of the application a consent in the same
terms signed by the solicitors for both parties has been filed. This raises a question as to when a judgment in such an appeal may be given on consent.
Under section 52(c) of the Federal Court Act, on an appeal of this kind, this Court has juris diction to give the decision that should have been given by the Board or to refer the matter back for determination in accordance with such direction as the Court considers appropriate. The jurisdiction of the Court to hear and deter mine appeals from decisions of the Immigration Appeal Board is not, however, general. It is limited by section 23 of the Immigration Appeal Board Act to appeals on questions of law or jurisdiction.
There is, in my opinion, no objection in prin ciple to a judgment on such an appeal being given on consent where the judgment appealed from is founded on an error of law or jurisdic tion. But it seems to me that where the appeal is to be allowed the facts which raise the question of law or jurisdiction or show the error of law in respect of which the appeal is to be allowed must form part of the record of this Court. Such facts will in most cases appear from the record of proceedings of the Board and when they do a brief reference to what appears therefrom as showing an error of law will be sufficient to show the basis on which this Court proceeds. But where the necessary facts do not appear from the Board's record they must be estab lished by some other means, including affidavits as to what has transpired.
Apart from the necessity of such facts as the basis for this Court's intervention it appears to me that whenever the judgment of this Court is that the matter is to be referred back, whether with or without specific directions, a statement of the reason for setting aside the decision, either in reasons for judgment of this Court or in the judgment itself is necessary to ensure that the Board is informed of the basis of this
Court's judgment and of the error which vitiated the Board's decision.
In this case the record or some part of the record of the Immigration Appeal Board was before the Court on the application for leave to appeal but nothing in the record of the present appeal or in the consent or the proposed order gives any indication of any respect in which the judgment appealed from is objectionable in point of law.
If the parties are in agreement that the judg ment appealed from is open to such an objec tion and that the judgment should on that account be set aside the substance of the objec tion and the facts giving rise to it should, as it seems to me, be set out in the consent, with some reference to where such facts appear in the record before this Court, and the order of this Court should set out succinctly the reason why this Court adjudges that the judgment appealed from should be set aside. This, as I see it, would serve both to show the jurisdiction of this Court to intervene and at the same time apprise the Board of what this Court considered to be erroneous in the Board's decision.
The present application may be re-submitted on further materials as indicated.
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JACKETT C.J.: I concur.
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PRATTE J.: I concur.
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