Don’t hide the names

As the Vancouver Police Department has said: “We never want to live in a society where someone can be murdered in secret.” Sadly, too many other agencies of government and law enforcement don’t seem to agree.

As the Times Colonist’s Katie DeRosa and Lindsay Kines reported on the weekend, there is a disturbing trend to withhold the names of victims of violent deaths.

We don’t know the name of the man shot and killed by police at the Departure Bay ferry terminal last week. Victoria police have not released the name of a man killed on Hillside Avenue in March, although family and friends identified him as Joe Gauthier.

The RCMP, the Coroners Service and the Independent Investigations Office, which investigates fatal interactions with police, say the Privacy Act prevents them from releasing names. They and others say there must be a public-interest reason for giving out names.

But defining the public interest is highly subjective, and they are interpreting the act too narrowly.

Our tradition of an open justice system harks back to fears of England’s Star Chamber, where people were tried and punished in secret. For our justice system to be effective and trusted, it must operate in the full light of day. Releasing names has long been — and should still be — part of that transparency.

While the police and other agencies generally have good intentions, withholding names makes it harder for the public to hold them accountable. And it makes it harder for the rest of us to see victims and perpetrators as people.