The Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) renders hundreds of decisions each year on labour law matters involving employees, unions, and employers under the Canadian federal jurisdiction.
To ensure efficient and transparent access to this vast body of case law, the CIRB relies on Norma, Lexum’s legal publishing and decision-search platform.
Since 2010, the Board has used Norma to provide powerful and flexible search capabilities to both internal and external users, while maintaining a high level of security for restricted decisions.
Homepage of decisions.cirb-ccri.gc.ca powered by Norma by Lexum. It provides centralized access to the CIRB’s decisions. Users can perform full-text searches, browse decisions by applicable statute, or view recently added content.
💡 Note
The CIRB is an independent federal administrative tribunal responsible for applying and interpreting labour legislation within sectors under the authority of the Government of Canada.
It adjudicates disputes related to collective bargaining, freedom of association, and labour relations in sectors such as transportation, telecommunications, and broadcasting, pursuant to the Canada Labour Code.
The Board also administers the Status of the Artist Act and the Wage Earner Protection Program Act, and acts as an appellate body for the Occupational Health and Safety Tribunal Canada.
Modernizing Research Without Compromising Security
Before adopting Norma, the CIRB’s website already offered partial access to its decisions, but its search and navigation functionalities were limited.
The Board’s members sought a more advanced tool capable of:
- Enabling comprehensive searches across all decisions;
- Providing differentiated access for public and internal users;
- Ensuring the preservation of existing content during the transition; and
- Addressing the specific complexity of tribunal documents, such as multiple decision-type classifications.
A generic all-purposes document management solution would have offered limited configuration options, while a bespoke system would have been too costly.
The CIRB needed a solution that balanced flexibility, security, and cost-efficiency.
Unify access to both public and restricted decisions within a single searchable interface — without compromising system security or flexibility.
A Tailored, Flexible, and Scalable Solution
Before adopting Norma, the CIRB’s website already offered partial access to its decDesigned specifically for decision-making bodies, Norma provides a high degree of customization while keeping publishing costs under control.
This flexibility allowed the CIRB to configure the platform to its needs by adapting metadata fields and labels to its institutional terminology.
Advanced search interface of decisions.cirb-ccri.gc.ca powered by Norma by Lexum. It allows users to perform full-text searches and filter results by various criteria — such as date, parties, decision-maker, decision type, or provisions of the Canada Labour Code. Each result includes a contextual snippet from the decision text, helping users quickly gauge the relevance of each document before viewing it in full.
- Integrated and Secure Access Management
Thanks to Norma’s built-in rights management system, the CIRB now hosts and provide access to both public and restricted decisions on a single platform.
Board members and adjudicators can log in to access additional material not visible to the public — all without duplication or added complexity.
- Seamless Migration
Despite thousands of decisions already available online, the transition to Norma occurred smoothly and without data loss.
Users were able to continue consulting decisions throughout the process, ensuring uninterrupted access to the Board’s content.
- Tangible and Lasting Results
The adoption of Norma enabled the CIRB to modernize legal research while streamlining its internal decision-management processes.
- Enhanced and Consistent Research
Both internal and external users now benefit from fast, accurate full-text searches, dynamic filtering, and intuitive navigation across the Board’s entire decision database.
- Security and Autonomy Strengthened
Norma’s integrated access controls allow the CIRB to protect the confidentiality of restricted decisions while retaining full control over the publication process.
- A Model for Federal Tribunals
In 2010, the CIRB became the first Canadian federal administrative tribunal to adopt Norma.
Since then, over 15 Canadian federal tribunals have followed its lead, confirming Norma as the reference platform for legal publishing in Canada.
A Trusted Partner for Legal Information Management
With Norma, the Canada Industrial Relations Board has been providing reliable, secure, and efficient access to its decisions for over 15 years.
This long-standing partnership with Lexum demonstrates how technology tailored for legal publishing can improve access to justice while supporting the mission of adjudicative bodies.
Access the CIRB’s Decisions:
