Rolling back secrecy on court files (Dean Jobb)
"The administration of justice thrives on exposure to light – and withers under a cloud of secrecy," Justice Morris Fish of the Supreme Court of Canada wrote in a 2005 ruling upholding the media's Charter-guaranteed right to gather and report the news. Yet since 2006, clerks at courthouses across Ontario have cast a "cloud of secrecy" over sexual assaults, extortions and a host of other serious crimes. They refused to allow journalists to see the court file – documents clearly on the public record – if there was a ban on publishing information that could identity the victim or a witness. The reason? A policy of the provincial Ministry of the Attorney General that deemed such files "not accessible to the public without judicial direction." A reporter or citizen seeking access, the policy stated, "must make an application to the court" – an expensive and time-consuming process. That was the practice until last week, when Attorney General Chris Bentley lifted the restriction and acknowledged "the administration of justice is strengthened by being open."
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF JOURNALISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KING'S COLLEGE IN HALIFAX AND AUTHOR OF MEDIA LAW FOR CANADIAN JOURNALISTS
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