The CBC has lost a Court application to block rival reporters from covering a hearing involving misconduct by one of its own managers. The application marked a reversal of the CBC’s longstanding campaign for open court proceedings.“Open courts are strongly presumed,” wrote Justice Ian Demers of Québec Superior Court, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “The exception required proof. If the party requested a closed hearing based on general arguments, the request must be rejected.”Records showed lawyers for the Crown broadcaster sought a publication ban on a hearing involving a producer disciplined for misconduct.“An independent investigation concluded a producer with the CBC engaged in harassment,” wrote Demers. “He was suspended without pay for one month.”“The Directors’ Association, his union, filed a grievance. Given the nature of the case, CBC asked the labour arbitrator for a publication ban that would make it impossible to identify the individuals. The arbitrator rightly refused.”.CBC execs see salary hike, bonuses axed following Liberal election win .The “threshold is high” in imposing publication bans, said Demers.“The consequences of disclosure must outweigh any inconvenience, annoyance or embarrassment,” he said.“The CBC believed the order was necessary to protect witnesses, their privacy and their professional reputation, to encourage whistleblowing and ensure the integrity of mechanisms for preventing workplace harassment and address the confidentiality given by the CBC to participants in the investigation.”CBC lawyers have long filed claims as plaintiffs and intervenors in Court proceedings seeking to overturn publication bans.“Freedom of the press should only be limited through a discretionary power when such an order is necessary to prevent a serious risk to the proper administration of justice,” CBC counsel wrote adjudicators in a 2018 application for access to disciplinary hearings involving Ontario pharmacists..Poilievre vows to cut CBC’s TV funding, calls for non-profit model.The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2016 also sought access to military court martial proceedings, arguing “the open court principle has long been recognized by the courts as a cornerstone of democracy.”The CBC was a lead plaintiff in a 2011 Supreme Court of Canada petition to televise legal proceedings as in some US states. The Court rejected the argument.“The fair administration of justice is necessarily dependent on maintaining order in and decorum near courtrooms and on protecting the privacy of litigants appearing before the courts,” wrote justices.Cabinet has called the CBC a pillar of Canadian democracy.“We need to make sure we defend our own sovereignty including the fact of having strong media here at home and also a very strong CBC which is essential to make sure we have a strong democracy,” then-Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said in February 28 remarks to the Vancouver board of Trade.“It’s the legislative branch, the courts and the media. And if you weaken all three, of course you have an issue with your democracy.”
