Chapter 1 Shared Writing: Ontario (Public Safety and Security) v. Criminal Lawyers' Association

There is a minimum of 140 characters required to post and earn points. If submitted, your response can be viewed by your classmates and instructor, and you can participate in the class discussion.

This exercise is based on End-of-Chapter case Ontario (Public Safety and Security) v. Criminal Lawyers Association, [2010] 1 SCR 815, 2010 SCC 23 (CanLII).

A stay of proceedings was ordered by the trial judge because of abusive conduct by government officials. The Ontario Provincial Police investigated the local police and the Crown attorney. It exonerated them of misconduct but did not give reasons for its decision. The Criminal Lawyers Association (CLA) made a request under the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act for disclosure of the records relevant to the investigation. Some of these documents contained legal advice. The legislation exempted documents subject to solicitorclient privilege from disclosure. The legislation provided for a review to determine whether a compelling public interest in disclosure outweighs the reason from the exemption, but this review did not apply to the solicitorclient exemption. The CLA claimed that its right to freedom of expression under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was breached because the solicitorclient privilege was not subject to the compelling public interest in disclosure. The Court of Appeal agreed with this position. This decision was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Should the Supreme Court reverse the decision of the Court of Appeal? Does s. 2(b) of the Charter guarantee access to all government documents? Should documents protected by solicitorclient privilege ever be disclosed because of the public interest?