Ontario’s Capital Markets Tribunal allowed Daniel St-Jean to testify by video in a securities enforcement hearing after weighing his health and travel costs against the regulator’s interest in questioning him in person. A later order also provides for St-Jean to take part by video when the parties make their oral closing submissions.
In Ontario Securities Commission v St-Jean, 2026 ONCMT 33, the panel explained why it granted the request on September 18. The merits hearing had been scheduled for eight days in Toronto. St-Jean expected to represent himself and three corporate respondents. The panel kept the hearing at the tribunal’s offices but permitted St-Jean and witnesses identified by the parties to participate remotely.
St-Jean, 76, told the registrar he lived 120 kilometres from the tribunal and that his cardiologist had advised him to avoid the stress of driving on busy highways. Taking public transit would mean paying for trains, hotels and meals he said he could not afford. He offered to attend for one day if he could complete his testimony that day.
The Ontario Securities Commission argued that St-Jean’s evidence would be central to the case. With evidence that he could not drive, the commission would accept his remote participation on days when he was not testifying. It still wanted him in the hearing room for examination and cross-examination.
The tribunal’s rules ordinarily require a witness giving oral evidence and the people questioning the witness to be physically present. The panel explained that it could vary that arrangement for part or all of a hearing. In deciding whether to do so, it had to consider factors including accessibility, expense, health and safety, and how effectively the parties could question witnesses.
The panel acknowledged that it might have to assess St-Jean’s credibility. In-person questioning could offer advantages, but the tribunal had experience taking testimony by video and the panel was satisfied that the parties could question him effectively that way. It accepted his explanation of the risks of driving without requiring further evidence. His offer to attend for one day presented a different problem. No one could predict how long his evidence would take, and a time limit risked cutting questioning short or disrupting the hearing.
The October 7 reasons left St-Jean free to attend in person if he chose. In an October 26 order, the panel recorded that the evidentiary portion of the hearing had ended and vacated the three remaining October hearing dates. It set November 23 for the commission’s written closing submissions and December 21 for any written closings from the respondents. The order scheduled oral closings for January 20, 2027, in Toronto, with St-Jean participating by video, subject to any alternative arrangements agreed by the parties and set by the registrar.
Source: Ontario Securities Commission v St-Jean, 2026 ONCMT 33.
