Breaking Out of Federal Court: Mission Institution v. Khela, 2014 SCC 24

Under the Federal Courts Act, the Federal Court has exclusive jurisdiction

to issue an injunction, writ of certiorari, writ of prohibition, writ of mandamus or writ of quo warranto, or grant declaratory relief, against any federal board, commission or other tribunal.

A notable absentee from this list is the writ of habeas corpus. Since its assertion that the "rule of law must run within penitentiary walls", the Supreme Court of Canada has given prisoners a choice between making habeas claims in the provincial superior courts or judicial review applications in Federal Court.

Keeping the Federal Government out of the Provincial Courts

In its 2010 decision in Telezone, the Supreme Court of Canada took a relatively relaxed approach to private law actions against the federal government in provincial court. The difficulty is that in some of these cases a court will have to adjudicate on the lawfulness -- as a public law matter -- of actions or decisions taken by federal authorities, but this is a matter reserved to the federal courts by the Federal Courts Act.