Limitations Law Blog

Under section 6 of the Time Limits and Other Periods Act (COVID-19) (the “Act), time limits established by federal legislation for starting or taking steps in a civil proceeding are suspended for a maximum period of six months, as of March 13, 2020 and ending on September 13, 2020 or on an earlier date fixed by order of the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice.

By letter dated September 1, 2020, the Attorney General of Canada advised the Federal Court of Appeal that section 6 of the Act suspends retroactively all “time limits […] established by or under an Act of Parliament” from March 13, 2020 to September 13, 2020 and that “orders and directives issued” by the courts in respect of time limits or establishing deadlines for procedural steps are ousted by the Act.

Limitation periods and procedural deadlines in Ontario have been suspended since March 16, 2020 pursuant to Ontario Regulation 73/20 (the “Suspension Order”) made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”).

Further to our blog post dated June 7, 2020, the Suspension Order was extended to September 11, 2020, which was the maximum renewal period allowed under the Act.

Ontario is gradually reopening its businesses, services, and public spaces. The Ministry of the Attorney General has therefore decided to revoke the Suspension Order. Limitation periods and procedural timelines will resume running on Monday, September 14, 2020 in accordance with Ontario Regulations 457/20 and 458/20 made under the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, 2020, SO 2020, c 17.

Further to our blog post dated May 25, 2020, federal legislation providing for a COVID-19 related temporary suspension of federal limitation periods and procedural time limits in civil litigation has now been enacted — Bill C-20: An Act respecting further COVID-19 measures obtained Royal Assent and enacted the Time Limits and Other Periods Act (COVID-19) (the “Act”) on July 27, 2020.

Under the Act, time limits established by federal legislation for starting or taking steps in a civil proceeding are suspended for a maximum period of six months, as of March 13, 2020 and ending on September 13, 2020 or on an earlier date fixed by order of the Governor in Council on the recommendation of the Minister of Justice.

On June 5, 2020, the Lieutenant Governor in Council amended Ontario Regulation 73/20 (the “Suspension Order”), made under section 7.1 of the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”), which temporarily suspends limitation periods and other procedural deadlines.

There are four important amendments to the Suspension Order:

1. the duration of the Suspension Order is decoupled from the duration of the emergency declaration. This is a welcome amendment and addresses the need for predictability and notice. Indeed, further to our blog post of May 29, 2020, we had supported a going forward “delinking” of the Suspension Order from the duration of the state of emergency in order to remove the confusion arising from dual clocks when determining the expiry date of the suspension.

We have previously reported on the suspension of limitations periods and procedural deadlines in Ontario effective March 16, 2020 pursuant to Ontario Regulation 73/20, as amended (the “Suspension Order”) made under the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act, RSO 1990, c E.9 (the “Act”). The Suspension Order is subject to limitations in its duration and scope, as discussed in our earlier posts, which are listed at this link.

With respect to duration, the Suspension Order will continue in effect until June 14, 2020, because:

• by its terms, the period of suspension under the Suspension Order is tied to the “duration of the emergency.”