On April 18, 2024, the appellate clerks published a new practice direction that applies to civil, criminal and penal matters. The Practice Direction n^o11, entitled Statutory and Regulatory Provisions Reproduced in Schedule II to a Brief or Memorandum, is available at: Practice Direction n^o11.

The practice direction reminds counsel and unrepresented parties of the rule prescribing that, in all matters, the statutory and regulatory provisions relied upon in a brief or memorandum must be reproduced in its schedule II. Failure to comply with this rule will result in the filing of the brief or memorandum being refused.

The practice direction sets out the method for complying with this obligation and offers a new way of reproducing statutory or regulatory provisions. Thus, statutory and regulatory provisions may now be reproduced in a separate volume of the brief or memorandum with page numbering that uses page numbers with decimals corresponding to the page numbering in the volume in which these provisions would otherwise have been reproduced.

Lastly, the practice direction also specifies that in civil matters, in addition to the statutory provisions already excluded under s. 51(b)(iv) of the Regulation of the Court of Appeal of Quebec in Civil Matters (namely, those of the Civil Code of Québec and the Code of Civil Procedure), parties are also exempted from reproducing provisions of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11; the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, CQLR, c. C-12; and the Divorce Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 3 (2nd Supp.).