Pubdate: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Ian Mulgrew Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) JUDGE WEIGHS RELEASING MARIJUANA MATERIAL Media Seeks Access To Affidavits Supporting Application For Wiretaps Made Six Years Ago B.C. Supreme Court Justice Selwyn Romilly is mulling an application by The Vancouver Sun to gain access to some 2,000 pages of material filed as exhibits in a marijuana smuggling trial. The documents -- affidavits filed by RCMP officers to support applications for wiretaps -- outline what police believed six years ago as they launched a series of cross-border investigations into a murder, a handful of drug-dealing organizations that spanned the continent and lucrative money-laundering schemes. Romilly listened last week to extensive legal arguments from defence counsel, the Crown and a lawyer for an unindicted co-conspirator and his ex-wife concerned about their privacy. All opposed letting the newspaper and the public read the material, although they were vague as to what specific harm might result other than personal embarrassment. Sun lawyer Barry Gibson said the documents should be available subject to minimal vetting for the names of undercover police informants or information that can be shown to have the potential to cause real harm. Names of innocent parties appear in the affidavits and those people may experience a loss of privacy, but Gibson said such was the price to be paid for an open judicial process. This is the same kind of material the media sought access to in the ex-premier Glen Clark influence-peddling trial and the more recent investigation involving the B.C. legislature and accusations of political bribery. In those cases, the media were given access once the risk of jeopardizing a fair trial had passed irrespective of privacy interests. Romilly did not seem swayed by Gibson's argument, though, nor did he appear persuaded that previous rulings by the Supreme Court of Canada in similar situations were applicable. "This whole issue is a new one," he said. "There is no case on point." The judge is no stranger to these deep legal waters and is well aware the country's high bench has long supported the public's right of access in the interests of transparency. But in those judgements, as he pointed out, it also has said that right must be weighed against other societal and constitutional concerns. It was that balancing act on which Romilly focused his attention. A few years ago, he faced a similar application -- and in that case he sided with the media, granting us access to audio tapes and other exhibits. Still, he underscored then, too, that the media did not have an unrestricted right -- it could be limited or denied. When I re-read that ruling, I was struck by its tone and Romilly's extra-legal commentary. It sounded to me as if he only grudgingly acknowledged the media's constitutional role. "The free press, as essential as it is to liberal democracy, has, in recent times, shown more of an ugly side in using its own power for ends that may not justify the means," Romilly wrote. "The press is now creating its own victims in causes or crusades for which it has very little mandate to pursue except for the right to free press and the pocketbooks of a virtual monopoly of media moguls. For this it must be held to account. "The press and those who have come to use it masterfully, awoke one morning, late in the 20th century, with the dawning realization that the press holds the balance of power. It can largely create its own causes, effectively lobby governments, cripple and create industry, shape the public's perceptions, and set the public agenda . . . . "Technology has handed to the press the magic wand of king-making and back-breaking . . . . The press no longer requires or even desires government approval, philosophical backing or logical underpinnings. All it needs is the 'vote' of the remote control, the subscription, and the advertising dollar to continue its reign of power." This is not a very generous view of the media and it's hard to believe Romilly was actually coming down on our side. Little wonder he warned The Sun this latest case was "no slam-dunk." He promised a written decision by next Monday. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman