Introduction

The federal court require that any document served to federal court, must be first served to the other party. That’s means, when you fill a document and want to submit it to Federal Court, you must first send a copy to the respondent (DOJ) and create an affidavit of service (a sworn document that proves the respondent was properly served), then you submit the document and the affidavit of service to the Federal Count.

This article walks you through that entire process: how to serve your documents correctly, how to draft your Affidavit of Service, and how to submit everything to the Federal Court, step by step.

Serve the document to the Respondent (DOJ)

Which email address should you use for service?

To determine the correct DOJ email address for service, follow these steps:

1. Check the Notice of Appearance

Carefully read the Notice of Appearance you received from the DOJ. Most of the time, you will find a line like:

“Electronic service of documents is accepted at [email@example.com].”

This is the preferred email address for serving the document to DOJ.

2. If no dedicated service email is listed

Scroll down to the signature section (bottom-right). If there’s an email address listed there, you may use it for service (usually it’s end by “justice.gc.ca”).

3. If no email is listed at all

Use the email address that sent you the Notice of Appearance.

Next, you need to serve your document to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by email and request confirmation of receipt.

Here’s an example of a service email: service-respondent-email.txt

Attach your finalized Document PDF file to the email and send it to the service address.

After sending the email, save a copy of the sent message (and the confirmation reply, if any) as a PDF.
Once you’ve served your Document to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by email, the next step is to file proof of that service with the Federal Court. This proof is called the Affidavit of Service.

Prepare the Affidavit of service

Now we have to prepare the affidavit of service, here’s the steps:

1. Download the template here: affidavit-of-service.docx
2. Open the document and replace all highlighted text with your case details:
   • Your full name
   • Your court file number
   • The email address you used to serve the DOJ
   • The document name (it may be one of: Applicant’s Record, Notice of Discontinuation, Motion of extension of time etc..)
   • The date and time the email was sent
3. Save the email you used to serve the Applicant’s Record as Exhibit A (PDF).
4. Print and notarize both the affidavit and Exhibit A. You can do this for FREE at the Federal Court Registry, or use an online notary service like Canada Notary or ATIS. Remember: don’t sign anything until you’re in front of the notary.

Serve document and affidavit of service to Federal Court

You should already be familiar with how to file documents online if you’ve completed Step 1. Here’s a the steps to serve any document and the affidavit of service:

1. Visit the FC: https://efiling.fct-cf.gc.ca/en/online-access/e-filing-intro
2. Select the check box “By checking this box, I confirm that I understand and agree to all Federal Court E-Filing Terms and Conditions above. (required)“.
3. Click on the second button “Submit document(s) to an existing proceeding”.
4. Type your case number (T-****-**) on the field “Court File Number (required)” and click “Next“.
5. This page show the court file, don’t do anything, just click “Next“.
6. This page show the Parties, don’t do anything, just click “Next“.
7. Now under “Document file (required)” click “Browse” and select your finalized document PDF file.
8. For “Document type (required)” select the type (APPLICATION RECORD, NOTICE OF DISCONTINUANCE, APPLICATION RECORD).
9. For “Language (required)” select “English“.
10. For “Filing party / parties (required)” select the checkbox before “Your Name“.
11. Under “Document handling instructions” type the document name.
12. Click on “Add another document“.
13. For “Document file (required)” click “Browse” and select your affidavit of service PDF file.
14. For “Document type (required)” select “AFFIDAVIT OF SERVICE“.
15. For “Language (required)” select “English“.
16. For “Filing party / parties (required)” select the checkbox before “Your Name“.
17. Under “Document handling instructions” type “Affidavit of Service to the Respondents”.
18. Click “Next“.
19. Fill your contact informations then click “Next“.
20. Review your submission, and click “Submit“.

Voilà, that’s it.

What’s next?

After you submit your document and the affidavit of service, you will receive an instant confirmation email. This simply lets you know that the Federal Court registry has received your submission. A few days later, you should receive an acceptance email, confirming that your document has been reviewed, accepted, and added to your case file.

In some situations, instead of an acceptance email, you may receive a rejection email. This means the registry could not accept your document. In that case, check the “Comment” section of the email for details on why it was rejected. In most cases the issue is minor, for example a missing signature or an incorrect file format and you can simply correct it and resubmit the updated document to the Federal Court.