Open access ruling won’t be appealed

Government is not challenging constitutional decision in favour of Star Justice Edward Morgan found denying access to tribunal records isn’t constitutional.

The Ontario government will not be appealing a Toronto Star legal victory which should lead to more openness in the province’s tribunal system.

Dan Guttman, a lawyer for the Ministry of the Attorney General, said in an email Tuesday

that the government would not challenge the Superior Court decision. Last month, the court ruled in

favour of a constitutional challenge launched by the Star that sought greater access to records

from such quasi-judicial bodies as the Human Rights Tribunal

and the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Justice Edward Morgan found that denying access to tribunal records was an “infringement” of the Charter of Rights and FFreedoms that the provincial government had failed to justi- fy. The judge gave the province one year to make the tribunal system more accessible to journalists and the public.

“I’m pleased the government is not appealing the clear and compelling reasons of Justice Morgan,” said Star lawyer Paul Schbas. “The Attorney General is doing the right thing by focusing on fixing the system to make it more transparent, rather than seeking to uphold proceddures that frustrate the public’s right to know what happens in our judicial tribunals.”

Like the courts, tribunal hearings are typically open to the public, and journalists are free to report on what is heard during the proceedings.

But unlike court, some tribunals, boards and commissions require individuals to file formal freedom of information requests in order to access documents filed at the public proceedings.

Such requests can at times take months to process. Some information in the documents, once finally delivered, is also redacted, Star journalists found as part of the constitutional challenge.

The Star argued that the rules of open courts should apply to the tribunals.

Morgan declared as “invalid” provisions of Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) that delay or block public access to tribunal records.

“In fashioning a regime that prohibits the disclosure of ‘personal information’ unless the press can establish its justification, FIPPA has it the wrong way around,” Morgan ruled. “Emphasizing privacy over openness not only has a negative impact on the press … Problematic landlords, police, and other actors, including repeat hhuman-rights offenders, vexa- tious litigants and the like cannot be discovered by members of the public who have to engage with them.”

Ministry of the Attorney General spokesman Brian Gray told the Star Tuesday that “Ontario recognizes that tribunals play a vital role in our justice system.

“The court has given Ontario 12 months to refine, in accordance with the decision, the balance between openness and the privacy concerns of vulnerable people who share sensitive personal information with tribunals during proceedings,” Gray said. With files from Robert Cribb