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Public Servants Disclosure Protection
Act
- Whistleblowers
are to be generally protected, unless (with a few
extreme exceptions) they go to Members of Parliament,
the media, or to the public with their complaints.
Ad IDEM has made a submission to the House of Commons
that would free whistleblowers to exercise their freedom
of expression more fully, in accordance with existing
law balancing their freedom of expression and their
duty of loyalty. We would give them a more general
"public interest" defence. See: Ad
IDEM on C-25. See Bill C-25
Publication Ban Procedure
- Its
been over five years since the Supreme Court of Canada
held in Dagenais v. CBC that a judge hearing
an application for a discretionary or common law publication
ban should direct that the media be given advance
notice to participate in the hearing.
Now, Ad IDEM has developed its own
proposal to implement the ruling procedurally.
See: Publication
Ban Procedure. Ad IDEM will soon be asking
justice officials across Canada to review the proposal
and address its recommendations. --- In
Nova Scotia, a new
plan has been developed through their Media-Courts
Liaison Committee to assist all concerned with delivering
and receiving the necessary notice electronically.
Those wanting notice will register their e-mails,
and those delivering notice will have the option of
delivering it electronically to all those registered.
Freedom
of Information Review
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Youth
Criminal Justice Act
- Bill
C-7, the Youth Criminal Justice Act, passed the House
of Commons, and had first reading in the Senate on
May 30, 2001:
Ad IDEM had concerns about this bill before, and while
some improvements were made in response to our submissions,
many of our concerns remain: foremost among them being
trials with potential adult sentences without public
identification of the person on trial until a sentence
is imposed. See Bill
C-7 for yourself, and the provisions dealing with
publication
and access
to records. See our previous communique
on last session's bill.
Ontario
Libel and Slander Act: Limitations period
There
will be no amendment to the limitation provisions of
the Ontario Libel and Slander Act... When the
amendments were finally announced to the Limitations
Act, the Libel and Slander Act was left untouched.
Ad IDEM took the position that no changes should be
made to its notice and limitations provisions without
careful consideration of the overall scheme of libel
law. The AG's original proposals would have undermined
the goal of encouraging timely retractions in the name
of symmetry with other limitation provisions.
Our position was set out in our Limitations
Submission.
Bill
C-79 - Victims of Crime - New Publication Bans -
May
13, 1999 - Ad IDEM President Brian Rogers
testified before the Standing Committee on a panel
that included a delegation from CBC: Daniel Henry and
Esther Enkin (Chief Journalist, CBC English Radio).
The Canadian Newspaper Association was invited but submitted
a brief, in lieu of appearing in person. Only
two other organizations were invited to appear, Canadian
Resource Centre for Victims, and MADD. No other
public hearings were scheduled.
The hearing
began with only three members of the 16 member committee
present, Jacques Saada, Chuck Cadman, and Eleni Bakopanos.
Two more, Derek Lee, and John Maloney, Chair of the
Committee, appeared much later. Chuck Cadman,
Jacques Saada and Derek Lee asked questions. Those
present expressed appreciation for the submissions made,
and we were assured that they would be reviewed by the
Committee as a whole.
Read the
Brief. It touches on:
- Ad IDEM
- Definition
of "Victim"
- Identifying
Information
- Test
for Granting Discretionary Ban
- Notice
of Hearing
- Statutory
Ban on Publishing About Successful Applications
- Absence
of a Statutory Appeal
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