Judge criticizes secrecy of raids
The reasons behind RCMP raids of the office of the Ottawa Citizen and the home of its reporter, Juliet O'Neill, should not have been kept secret, a judge has ruled.A court order to seal the detailed reasons for the national security raids in January violated the constitutional guarantees of a free press, freedom of expression and the public's right to an open court system, Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled yesterday.
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Ratushny quashed the sealing orders and ordered that some of the secret information be disclosed to lawyers for the Citizen and O'Neill, who are in a protracted legal battle to have the search warrants declared invalid and have items seized from the reporter returned.In her 24-page decision, the judge said the RCMP and justice of the peace Richard Sculthorpe committed significant failings in their handling of the sealing orders.
The raids took place because the Citizen published a story written by O'Neill based on leaked documents concerning the Maher Arar case. It's never been clear whether the RCMP was trying to keep secrets, find the leaker, or both. There's more in this post, and this one, from last January.
This may put us one step closer to finding out the whole story behind Arar's detention and imprisonment. It may also add ammunition to the upcoming review of Bill C36 and other legislation which was pushed through in the wake of 9/11.
Works for me.
There's been a strong odor of "not in front of the children" about the whole Arar matter from start to finish.