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Counsel rebut CJC criticisms

INSURANCE

CRISTIN SCHMITZ OTTAWA

Two prominent Toronto litiga-
tors have angrily rejected criti-
cism that, in their former roles as
independent counsel to the Can-
adian Judicial Council, they
might not have advocated force-
fully enough for the removal of
two federal judges accused of
abusing their powers.

A CJC inquiry committee
looking into sex-related mis-
conduct allegations against
Manitoba Queen’s Bench Asso-
ciate Chief Justice Lori Douglas
recently handed down a pre-
hearing ruling outlining princi-
ples to guide independent coun-
sel Guy Pratte in discharging
his duties.
In doing so, the Douglas
inquiry committee alluded to the
work by other senior lawyers
retained by the CJC several years
ago in misconduct inquiries
against two Ontario judges. The
panel suggested that independ-
ent counsel in those hearings
might not have fully and force-
fully presented the arguments for
removing the judges because they
“may not have fully appreciated”
that they were supposed to
present the “strongest case pos-
sible” against the judges based on
the evidence.

Those observations were not appreciated by the counsel involved —especially since none of

See CJC Page 8

Coverage in an age of genetic testing

Disagreement over role of independent counsel in past probes of judges

Expression rights for union upheld
THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

Vol. 22, No. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION December 6, 2002

PAGE 10

CLEAN WATER

Charter guarantees
trump privacy laws
in Alberta appeal

MICHAEL BENEDICT

A judicial ruling that potentially undermines privacy protection legislation across the country could be headed to the Supreme Court of Canada, according to observers of a recent Alberta Court of Appeal decision. The country’s highest court will likely be asked to arbitrate a battle between two competing values — freedom of speech and individual privacy rights.

The Alberta case — United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 v. Information and Privacy Commissioner and Attorney General of Alberta [2012] ABCA 130—is the first instance of a Charter-based attack on privacy legislation anywhere in Canada, said privacy lawyer David Fraser of McInnes Cooper in Halifax.

The decision involves a picket
line established after workers at
the Palace Casino in Edmonton
went on strike in 2006. The
casino is located in the West
Edmonton Mall and entry is
through the mall’s hallways. The
union videotaped the picket line,
a standard practice of both labour
and management, and posted
signs in the mall stating that
images of people crossing the line
might be placed on its website.
In the event, no such record-
ings were posted. Nevertheless,
several members of the public
and employees who crossed the
picket line complained to
Alberta’s privacy commissioner
about the unauthorized use of
their images. An inquiry under
the province’s Personal Informa-
tion Protection Act (PIPA) deter-
mined that the union had no right
to collect and use the recordings.
The United Food and Com-
mercial Workers appealed and
won a decision from a chambers
judge that declared parts of
PIPA unconstitutional because
they restricted the union’s Char-
ter right to free speech. The
Court of Appeal agreed and
called the Act “heavy-handed,”
although it did not strike down
any of the legislation, in the rul-
ing issued April 30.
“While the protection of per-
sonal information is important, it
is no more important…than the
right of the union to communi-
cate its message to the public,”
Justice Frans Slatter wrote on
behalf of the three-member panel.
“The appropriate remedy in
this case is, therefore, not to

Gwen Gray, who argued that Alberta’s privacy laws violated a union’s expression rights, in her Edmonton law office.

DAN RIEDLHUBER FOR THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

See Union Page 2

Act has far-ranging effects on land use planning in Ontario

DATA BREACH

THE LAWYERS WEEKLY

VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002 VOL. 22, NO. 27 NEWS FOR THE LEGAL PROFESSION DECEMBER 6, 2002

PAGE 14

Bill C- 12 calls for mandatory reporting of data breaches

PAGE 20

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