Summary#
Bill 28, the Enforcement of Canadian Judgments Act, would repeal and replace New Brunswick’s Canadian Judgments Act and make related changes to two other Acts. Its stated goal is to provide a process for enforcing eligible judgments from other Canadian provinces and territories in New Brunswick.
The supplied amendment records say amendments to the bill’s definition of a Canadian civil protection order and its regulation-making powers were adopted. The bill text itself is labelled first reading; the material does not establish that the bill has become law.
- A person entitled to enforce an eligible judgment elsewhere in Canada could register it with a clerk of the Court of King’s Bench. Once registered, it could generally be enforced as a Court of King’s Bench judgment.
- Money judgments could be registered only if final. The court must set aside a registration that does not meet the bill’s registration rules.
- A person affected by a registered judgment could ask the Court of King’s Bench to set aside registration or give directions, but could not challenge it simply by arguing the other court got the law or facts wrong, lacked jurisdiction, or had a defect in its process.
- Canadian civil protection orders could be enforced as Court of King’s Bench orders, whether registered or not. New Brunswick law enforcement agencies could enforce them and would have immunity for good-faith acts or omissions.
- Amendment: The original definition covered orders barring specified contact, proximity, attendance, or conduct. The adopted amendment also lets regulations prescribe other orders as Canadian civil protection orders. The adopted change to the regulation section gives the Lieutenant-Governor in Council power to prescribe those orders.
- The bill excludes several kinds of orders, including support or maintenance, fines for offences, most orders about a minor’s care, and probate orders. The new Act would not apply to certain older cases where the person against whom enforcement is sought did not take part; the old Act would continue to apply to those cases.
What it means for you#
- People owed money or other relief: If you are entitled to enforce an eligible judgment from another province or territory, you could seek registration in New Brunswick. You would have to file the required documents and pay the prescribed fee. Reasonable registration costs could be recovered.
- People facing enforcement: You could apply to the Court of King’s Bench to set aside registration or seek directions. The bill limits the grounds for setting it aside; it does not allow a new hearing of the original case.
- People subject to a protection order: An eligible order could be enforced in New Brunswick even if it was not registered. Regulations could add other kinds of orders to the definition.
- Court clerks and law enforcement agencies: Clerks would register judgments when the required fee and documents are provided. Law enforcement agencies could enforce protection orders. The bill does not create a new agency.
- Current law: The supplied materials do not include the existing Canadian Judgments Act, so I could not verify how the new process differs from the current one in detail.
Money#
No cost estimate is included in the available material.
- A person seeking registration must pay a fee set by regulation; the amount is not stated.
- The person enforcing the judgment may recover reasonable registration costs.
- The bill gives no estimate for court or law-enforcement staffing or costs.
What is unclear#
- What forms, statements, supporting information, and fees regulations will require.
- Which additional types of protection orders, if any, regulations will prescribe.
- When the Act would start; its start date would be set by proclamation.
- How the new process would interact with existing programs or procedures beyond the transition rule.
- The full effect of the change cannot be assessed against current law without the existing Canadian Judgments Act and its regulation.
Case for#
- A possible argument for the bill is that it gives people a registration route to enforce eligible Canadian judgments in New Brunswick without starting a separate action on the judgment.
- Treating registered judgments as Court of King’s Bench judgments could make enforcement more direct.
- The bill preserves court oversight for issues such as stays, later changes to a judgment, and the procedure for enforcement.
- Enforcing protection orders without registration could help make those orders effective across provincial borders.
Case against#
- The bill sharply limits challenges based on the original court’s jurisdiction, its findings, or defects in the original process. That could leave a person facing enforcement with limited ways to object in New Brunswick.
- Regulations could expand which orders count as civil protection orders, but the bill does not set limits on that power or list the additional orders.
- The bill sets no fee amount or cost estimate, and does not explain what resources courts or law enforcement agencies would need.
- The transition between the new Act and the repealed Act may be difficult to understand without the existing law and the regulations.