The Applicant applied to determine whether the Court could extend the time for filing and service of the Applicant’s Originating Application and the Amended Original Application (together the “Documents for Judicial Review”) on the Alberta Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Alberta, notwithstanding Rule 3.15, and more specifically the six-month limitation set out in Rule 3.15(2) (the “Six-Month Time Limit”). The Court noted that the Six-Month Time Limit ended on January 6, 2023.

The Court noted that the Applicant had submitted the Documents for Judicial Review on January 3, 2023, and argued that his filing was delayed after a power outage at the Courthouse (the “Power Failure”). Discussions with the Courthouse had resulted in the Documents for Judicial Review being backdated to January 3, 2023, and the Applicant then served the Documents for Judicial Review on January 19, 2023. The Court concluded that the Power Failure was secondary to the Applicant simply taking too long to submit the Documents for Judicial Review for filing. More specifically, the Court noted that: (1) the fact the documents were eventually backdated to be filed as of January 3, 2023 was largely irrelevant as the filing of the documents was not affected by the Power Failure in any material way; (2) Court filing dates do not determine whether Rule 3.15 deadlines have been met; (3) the Applicant had failed to comply with the Six-Month Time Limit by failing to serve the documents no later than January 6, 2023.

The Court additionally set out that recent jurisprudence had established that the Court had no discretion or inherent jurisdiction to extend the Six-Month Time Limit. The Court accordingly dismissed the Application notwithstanding arguments by the Applicant asserting that no one had been prejudiced.