Judge orders province to produce massive trove of coal documents after four-year fight
The Alberta government must produce thousands of documents on its attempts to encourage coal mining in the Rocky Mountains after a judge threw out a bid to block their release.
In denying the government’s request for a judicial review into an order to provide the documents, Justice Kent Teskey warned the province that courts take a dim view of delay being used to neuter public attempts to understand how important decisions are made.
“The requesting parties have been practically denied access to the information they are entitled to at law and this court will not abet this conduct through the availability of judicial review,” he wrote in a judgment released Friday.
“If public bodies are unwilling or unable to comply with their timely obligations under (freedom of information law), they should expect that courts may apply a high level of scrutiny on the availability of judicial review.”
The judgment relates to an attempt by a group of southern Alberta ranchers to understand why the United Conservative Party government chose in 2020 to rescind a decades-old policy that had blocked open-pit coal development from the beloved landscapes of the southern foothills and Rockies.
In 2020, the group asked Alberta Energy for briefing notes, internal memos, reviews, reports and correspondence.
Legislation says a public body has 30 days to make reasonable attempts to respond but may make 30-day extensions. Those extensions were imposed again and again and, after 15 months, the department released 30 pages of what it said were 6,539 records.
It eventually refused to release any more, using exemptions allowed by the law. The ranchers appealed that decision to the Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office, and the exemptions were disallowed.
The judge threw out the government’s request for a judicial review of that decision, saying it relied too heavily on loopholes for cabinet discussions.
“Cabinet confidence is essential to ensure that the government can deliberate freely and unimpeded, but it does not exist to allow governing in secrecy,” Teskey wrote.
As well, the judge said the government changed, without explanation, the number of documents involved, cutting the original number by more than a third.
“I am concerned about the seemingly casual attitude that Alberta Energy adopted in representing the number of records before the commissioner,” Teskey wrote.
His ruling emphasized the importance of timely access to government records.
“Every Albertan is entitled to a broad right of access to the records of their government. This is an essential pillar of a functional democracy.
“It is difficult not to look at the history of this matter and see the critical rights imbued by access to information as being largely illusory.”
Laura Laing, one of the ranchers who made the information request, said the four-year fight was worth it.
“I think (the government) expects people to give up. We’re ranchers. We’re gritty.”
Laing said she’s so far received 609 pages of documents. The Canadian Press has reviewed about half of them and found them heavily redacted.
“It’ll probably take years before we can get all the redactions removed, Laing said. “But we’re determined.”
The government policy decision that sparked their request has since been reversed. But Laing said it’s worth understanding how it was made in the first place.
“Nothing about this coal file has made sense from the beginning. We and Albertans deserve to know the truth behind decisions like this.”
Alberta Energy did not immediately provide a comment on the ruling.
A Lethbridge man charged in connection to a three-year-old human trafficking case and who has been living under strict release conditions, has had several of his conditions removed pending the expected resolution of his charges without the need for a trial.
Chief among the conditions is his 24-hour-a -day curfew, or house arrest, which the Crown removed Friday during a hearing in Lethbridge court of justice. The Crown also removed a condition that prohibited Fadi Chtewi from leaving Alberta, and she removed several exceptions to a condition which requires him to reside at a specific westside residence.
Chtewi, who previously elected to be tried by a Court of King’s Bench judge, is charged with two counts of aggravated sexual assault, and single counts of sexual assault, sexual contact with a child, sexual counsel of a child, sexual assault of a person under the age of 16, trafficking in persons, and being party to sexual assault.
Police reported in August 2021 that eight men and two youth from Lethbridge and Calgary selected and groomed a 15-year-old girl and took her to specific locations where sex offences occurred. A 13-year-old girl was also alleged to have been involved in sexual activity, and additional complainants came forward later in connection with the investigation.
Chtewi was scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 4, but the matter did not proceed as expected by request of the Crown. The hearing was rescheduled for July 4, but during Friday’s court appearance Calgary lawyer Leanndria Halcro said the matter will ultimately be resolved by a peace bond.
A peace bond is a form of resolution in which criminal charges are withdrawn without a finding of guilt. As a result of the charges being withdrawn, the accused will not have a criminal conviction for the alleged offences, but he must keep the peace and obey any conditions placed on him for a specific period of time. Failure to do so can result in criminal charges.
The case is set to return to court on April 26 to schedule a date with the assigned Crown prosecutor to resolve the charges.
Chtewi also faces charges of mischief causing damage and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, both of which are unrelated to the human trafficking case.
Chtewi has been released on those charges with conditions, including that he behave himself and not have any contact with a specific individual. The accused is set to stand trial on both charges Aug. 6.