Abdalla – Federal Court of Appeal confirms the test to be applied in determining a waiver’s validity

Rossiter CJ had found that taxpayers had given valid waivers of their right to appeal: even though the waiver letter drafted by CRA was “poorly worded … if read in its entirety … there is a sufficient and adequate explanation in the letter [such] that a person would have full knowledge of the rights being waived.” In affirming this finding, Gleason JA indicated her agreement that the following judicial test had been satisfied:

[T]wo elements [are] required to show a valid waiver: (1) full knowledge of rights; and (2) an unequivocal and conscious intention to abandon them communicated to the other party.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Abdalla v. Canada, 2019 FCA 5 under s. 169(2.2).