What drives access to information
The Star challenges systems when it feels information is being kept from the public
This story is part of the Star’s trust initiative, where we take readers behind the scenes of our journalism. This week, we focus on why the Star seeks access to information and hearings that are not typically in the public eye.
The Toronto Star has long followed the principle that in order for society to have confidence in its institutions — the courts, police and government, for example — the public must be able to observe how they operate. And further, that the media can play a role in this by acting as the eyes and ears of citizens, most of whom have busy lives.
This philosophy often leads Star reporters to find themselves at odds with officials in our courts, or in quasi-judicial forums, such as tribunals, boards or panels, over how transparent these publicly funded institutions should be.
If the Star believes information of vital public interest is being withheld, the paper will, often with the help of lawyers, challenge publication bans, file access-to-information appeals or petition courts for access. For example, in February the Star launched a legal challenge with the goal of ending secrecy in Ontario’s tribunal system that deals with things such as police misconduct, human rights abuses and environmental offences. The challenge is ongoing.
Veteran Star reporter Peter Edwards and photographer Steve Russell found themselves in a situation in which they were forced to defend the public’s right to know during a January Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada hearing in Rexdale. The journalists were there to cover a deportation hearing for Selva Kumar Subbiah, a convicted serial rapist originally from Malaysia who had just finished serving 24 years in prison for drugging and sexually assaulting 30 women in Canada.
Edwards only found out about the hearing from a source, as the board had made no public announcement. It was not clear whether the board would deport Subbiah to his native Malaysia or return him to the streets of Toronto, a prospect that terrified many of his victims.
Prison staff told a 2016 parole hearing that Subbiah, if granted parole, was “likely to commit an offence causing death or serious harm to another person.”
Edwards and Russell say they thought it was important that the public, including Subbiah’s victims, be allowed to see what he looked like now in the event he was released, but they weren’t hopeful that the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) would allow photography. As with court proceedings in Ontario, photography by the public is not allowed in IRB hearing rooms.
“When I got there, I was 99 per cent sure I wasn’t going to get anything,” Russell said.
Predictably, the journalists were told by IRB officials that photography wasn’t allowed, but that they could make a submission to the chair of the hearing stating why an exception should be made in this case. The journalists were told that even if the Star’s request was granted, they couldn’t enter the hearing room, but could only take photos of a TV screen showing what was going on inside.
Edwards quickly grabbed a piece of paper and began drafting an argument in favour of letting the Star take a picture of Subbiah, recalling as he did a conversation he had with one of Subbiah’s victims.
“What I tried to do was pretend that she was writing it as much as I could,” he said. “The woman said that every time a man walked by her home, she’d wonder. She knew he had changed his appearance and she wanted some sort of order in her life and to at least know what the other side looked like. It had affected her home life, her trust of men.”
Edwards said he also submitted that the broader public has a right to know what goes on in immigration hearings, especially when they involve individuals deemed a risk to society.
“This is our system and it works as well as we make it work. So if we’re blindfolded, it’s not going to work that well,” Edwards said.
Subbiah also submitted his own arguments as to why the Star shouldn’t be allowed to take his photo.
In the end, the chairperson sided with the Star. But that left Russell with another challenge: take a photo of an image of Subbiah on a TV screen that was of high enough quality for publication.
Yet another challenge: aware that the Star was now trying to take his photo, Subbiah turned his face to the floor so that all that was visible was the top of his head.
Russell pointed his camera at the screen and waited, keeping one eye looking through his viewfinder and another on the whole screen. Minutes ticked by. No movement.
“He just kept his head down. He knew what was going on,” Russell recalled.
Then, for just one instant, Subbiah looked up slightly. Russell was ready.
“I knew at some point he was going to have to look up.” The picture ran on the front of the GTA section.
“As the famous quote goes, news is what someone somewhere wants to keep secret. Everything else is advertising,” said Toronto Star Editor Michael Cooke.
“When our elected and appointed officials want to keep something secret from us, the public, you can bet it’s something we should and need to know about.”