Jurisdiction conferred on Supreme Court of Canada and Federal Court in certain cases

1   (1) The Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Canada, or the Supreme Court of Canada alone, according to the Acts of the Parliament of Canada known as the Supreme Court Act and the Federal Court Act, have jurisdiction in the following cases:

(a) controversies between Canada and British Columbia;

(b) controversies between British Columbia and any other province of Canada that has passed an Act similar to this Act;

(c) suits, actions or proceedings in which the parties to them, by their pleadings, have raised a question as to the validity of an Act of the Parliament of Canada, or of an Act of the Legislature, if, in the opinion of the court in which the suits, actions or proceedings are pending, the question is material.

(2) A judge who hears a case referred to in subsection (1) (c) must, at the request of the parties, and may without that request, if he or she thinks fit, order the case to be removed to the Supreme Court of Canada to decide the question of validity.

Authority for use of courthouse

2   If sittings of the Federal Court of Canada are appointed to be held in a place in British Columbia in which a courthouse is located, the judge presiding at the sittings has, in all respects, the same authority as a judge of the Supreme Court in regard to the use of the courthouse and other buildings set apart for the administration of justice in British Columbia.