Canadian courts have generally adopted a
liberal and purposive approach to class action certification,
and this approach has applied equally to the relatively new breed
of class actions founded in privacy torts, see for example, Condon v Canada. However, in the
recent decision of Canada v John Doe, the Federal Court
of Appeal de-certified two causes of action based in privacy torts,
narrowing its approach to the material facts required to meet the
standard of proof in determining whether the pleadings disclose a
reasonable cause of action.
In John Doe, Health Canada sent oversized envelopes
marked "Marihuana Medical Access Program" through Canada
Post to approximately 40,000 individuals registered in the program.
The plaintiffs alleged that by identifying on the envelopes the
participants' names together with the name of the program,
Health Canada breached their privacy and exposed them to security
concerns. The
Federal Court certified all six causes of action:
