Thursday, February 9, 2012

Dagenais/Mentuck test bc rail trial

Dagenais/Mentuck test bc rail trial

  1. R. v. Sipes, issue of access by media to exhibits entered at a trial ...

    bcjustice.com/index.php?...trial-trial...
    12 Jul 2011 – IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA .... The Dagenais/Mentuck test is applicable at every stage of the judicial process but must ...
  2. Sangha v. - BCJustice/Court cases/British Columbia/Supreme Court ...

    www.bcjustice.com/index.php?...trial...
    26 Jan 2012 – British Columbia, 2010 BCCA 169, 4 B.C.L.R. (5th) 22, the Court applied the Dagenais/Mentuck test in the context of an appeal from the ...
  3. ACCESS PERMITTED - R. v. Basi, Ruling on Application for ...

    bcjustice.com/index.php?option...r...
    2 Jun 2011 – [4] The trial of this matter ended in October 2010 when Dave Basi and Bobby ... The Dagenais/Mentuck test is applicable at every stage of the ...
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Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp., [1994] 3 S.C.R. 835, and R. v. Mentuck, 2001 SCC 76






Update March 15, 2012

[application/pdf] (I.)/~(fu1.Q(J11lfl{1~jL-
... From: Lowther, Brett GCPE:EX To: Brazier, Heather M JTI:EX; cc: Blewett, Tyann
M SG:EX; Subject: Times colonist article Date: Friday, May 7, 2010 ...
http://docs.openinfo.gov.bc.ca/D44851511A_Response_Package_PSS-2011-01239.PDF


Page 5

Big questions 

The Supreme Court of Canada has clearly recognized the principle of openness in the court system in Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corp., [1994] 3 S.C.R. 835; R. v. Mentuck, [2001] 3 S.C.R. 442 and more recently in R. v. Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. 2005 SCC 41.  http://csc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2005/2005scc41/2005scc41.pdf
 

The Court has also recognized that there are exceptions to this principle.
 

The general principles are as follows:
 

1. Every court has a supervisory and protecting power over its own records.
2. The presumption is in favor of public access and the burden of contrary proof lies upon the person who would deny the exercise of the right.
3. Access can be denied when the ends of justice would be subverted by disclosure or the judicial documents might be used for an improper purpose. Curtailment of public accessibility can only be justified where there is present the need to protect social values of superordinate importance. One of these is the protection of the innocent.
A.G. (Nova Scotia) v. MacIntyre, [1982] 1 S.C.R. 175, at 186-189.


In summary, the public interest in open trials and in the ability of the press to provide
complete reports of what takes place in the courtroom is rooted in the need:

PSS-2011-01239
(1) to maintain an effective evidentiary process;
(2) to ensure a judiciary and juries that behave fairly and that are sensitive to values espoused by society;
(3) to promote a shared sense that our courts operate with integrity and dispense justice; and 

(4) to provide an ongoing opportunity for the community to learn how the justice system operates and how the law being applied daily in the courts affects them. 

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