Simon's Megalomaniacal Legal Resources

Labour - Evidence

. Fearing v. Canada Council of Teamsters [use of surreptitious recordings frowned upon]

In Fearing v. Canada Council of Teamsters (Fed CA, 2025) the Federal Court of Appeal dismissed a JR, here brought against two CIRB decisions.

Here the court comments on the admission of surreptitious recordings in the labour context:

[6] Mr. Fearing also submits that the Board was unreasonable in excluding certain surreptitious audio recordings that he made. Here again, the Board was reasonable. The Board can reject evidence “in its discretion” and “as it sees fit” whether or not admissible in a court: Canada Labour Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. L-2, s. 16(c). Drawing on its labour relations experience and expertise and its earlier decision in Valenti and CUPW, Re, 2018 CIRB 866 at paras. 8-11, the Board found that the regular admission of surreptitious recordings into its proceedings would be damaging to labour relations. The Board formulated a test for admission, a fair and supportable one, applied it to Mr. Fearing’s case and ruled that Mr. Fearing’s surreptitious recordings were inadmissible.