3. Give your evidence

As the Applicant, your witnesses testify first. This means they give an oath or swear to tell the truth. When all your witnesses have finished, the Respondent's witnesses will testify.

Each witness is questioned in this order:

1. Direct examination: You ask your witness questions. This is also called “examination in chief”.
2. Cross-examination: The Respondent asks your witness questions.
3. Re-examination: You ask your witness follow-up questions. You can only ask questions about things that were mentioned during cross-examination. You cannot talk about new issues that you did not talk about during cross-examination. And you cannot repeat information from your examination in chief.

The member might also ask the witness questions.

For the Respondent's witnesses, the Respondent does the direct examination and then you do the cross-examination and so on.

You’re also a witness

You're a witness at the hearing. You're usually the first witness. If you have a lawyer, your lawyer will ask you questions for your direct examination.

But if you do not have a lawyer, you must be prepared to tell your story on your own.

Show documents and other evidence

If there are documents or other evidence that you want to use in the hearing, they must be officially identified by a witness while the witness is testifying. You also identify evidence when you're a witness.

The witness must have personal knowledge about the document or evidence.

For example, if the evidence is a photo, the witness should be able to answer questions like:

• Do you recognize this photo?
• Who took this photo?
• When was it taken?
• What is shown in this photo?