This is general information, not legal advice, and reflects Federal Court of Canada practice as of September 23, 2026.
The declaration your first paragraph needs to carry
The Federal Court's Notice to the Parties and the Profession on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Proceedings sets the mechanic out directly. Where content in a filing — a memorandum of fact and law, an affidavit, written representations — was created or generated by AI, the document's first paragraph has to say so.
Sample wording from the Court itself: “Artificial intelligence (AI) was used to generate content in this document,” naming specific paragraphs if only part of the filing was AI-assisted. Issued December 20, 2023 and updated May 7, 2024, it remains the Court's operative guidance today — older than every Ontario court AI practice direction.
Generative AI only — spell-check and translation tools are exempt
The duty doesn't sweep in every tool with "AI" in its marketing. It targets generative AI — systems capable of independently creating content — and exempts tools that merely assist a human who keeps authorship:
- Spell-check and grammar tools.
- Translation assistance, human-reviewed.
- Voice recognition / dictation.
- Document automation (templates, mail-merge).
Suggesting edits a human then decides whether to adopt doesn't trigger the declaration; a generative tool drafting the argument does.
Three or four disclosures out of almost 28,000 filings
The rule has real teeth on paper: in Hussein v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 FC 1060, Justice Catherine Moore found undeclared generative-AI use in a motion and held that AI use "must be declared" at this Court.
Compliance looks thinner in practice. Chief Justice Paul Crampton told the CBA's Modern Law podcast, per the Bar Association's own National magazine, February 2025, that of almost 28,000 filings in 2024, only three or four carried an AI declaration — self-represented litigants disclosed far more readily than lawyers, an argument for building the boundary into software, not just policy.
What this means for Ontario counsel appearing federally
Federal Court jurisdiction covers immigration, IP, tax appeals, and judicial review of federal decisions — work Ontario firms handle alongside provincial civil practice. The Superior Court's AI practice directions don't reach a matter before the Federal Court, and the reverse holds too. See our tracker of Ontario's five AI disclosure rules for the provincial comparison.
DROZlegal's litigation drafting tools hyperlink every cited authority to its live CanLII record while drafting — a lawyer still verifies and declares, but the trail is checkable, not reconstructed under deadline. See our tracker of AI-evidence rules across Canadian courts.