Case information

None.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

The facts of this case are derived from the Court of Appeal decision. On August 20, 2003, six search warrants were issued for various locations linked to the business of Aylmer Meat Packers Inc. The warrants were obtained under the provisions of the Provincial Offences Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.33 and related to alleged violations of provincial legislation regulating slaughter of cattle. The warrants were executed on August 21 and 22, 2003.

On August 26, 2003 the investigation by the Ministry of Natural Resources into the operation of Aylmer became the subject of widespread media reports. On August 27, 2003, the Ontario Provincial Police commenced a fraud investigation into the business affairs of Aylmer. The officers involved in that investigation were advised that search warrants had been applied for and obtained. On September 2, 2003, the Crown brought an ex parte application in open court in the Ontario Court of Justice for an order sealing the search warrants, the informations used to obtain the warrants and related documents. The Appellant, Crown claimed that public disclosure of the material could identify a confidential informant and could interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation. Justice Livingstone made an order directing that the warrants and informations were to be sealed along with the affidavit of Detective Clelland filed in support of the sealing order application and a letter from the Ministry of Natural Resources indicating they took no objection to the application. The sealing order was to expire on December 2, 2003. The Clelland affidavit and Natural Resources letter were subsequently made part of the public record on the consent of the Crown. At the hearing, Livingstone J. refused to grant an adjournment to a representative of the media so that counsel for the media might attend to make representations on the application for the sealing order.

The Respondents, Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Sun Media Corp. brought a motion for certiorari and mandamus in the Superior Court. On September 24, 2003, McGarry J. released reasons quashing the sealing order and directing that the documents should be made public except to the extent that the contents of the informations could disclose the identity of a confidential informant. The Crown appealed the order. The Court of Appeal for Ontario announced at the end of oral argument on October 10, 2003 that the Crown's appeal would be allowed to a very limited extent – McGarry's J. order setting aside the sealing order was affirmed and his order directing that the informations should be released to the public only after they were edited to avoid disclosure of any information that might identify the confidential informant, was also affirmed. The Court of Appeal also concluded that two paragraphs in the informations that were not removed by McGarry J., should be deleted before the informations were released to the public.