''Dagenais v Canadian Broadcasting Corp'',
9943 S.C.R. 835 is the leading
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
decision on
publication bans and their relation to the right to
freedom of expression under
section 2(b) of the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was held that judges have a common law discretionary authority to impose
publication bans on information revealed in a criminal trial. The judge, however, must weigh competing rights, such as freedom of expression and
right to a fair trial
A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...
, to mizzen the violation of rights. It was further held that the media has a right to appeal a decision of a publication ban.
Background
Four former and present members of the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order, were charged with sexual abuse of young boys while they were teachers at an Ontario Catholic school. During their trial the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced a dramatic mini-series, based on another sexual abuse scandal at
Mount Cashel Orphanage
The Mount Cashel Orphanage, known locally as the Mount Cashel Boys' Home, was a boys' orphanage located in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The orphanage was operated by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, and became infamous ...
, named ''
The Boys of St. Vincent
''The Boys of St. Vincent'' is a 1992 Canadian television miniseries directed by John N. Smith for the National Film Board of Canada. It is a two-part docudrama inspired by real events that took place at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in St. John's, ...
'', and it was scheduled to be broadcast nationwide in the first week of December, 1992. The defence brought an application requesting the jury be charged before the airing of the show or else sequestered over the weekend of the show's airing. The judge declined and instead merely directed the jury to avoid watching the show.
The day before the airing the defence applied for an injunction to restrain the CBC from broadcasting the show and from publishing any information relating to the show until the last of the four trials were over. The injunction was granted.
On appeal, the
Court of Appeal for Ontario
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal or ONCA) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Hall in downtown Toronto, also the seat of the Law Societ ...
upheld the injunction but limited it only to Ontario and Montreal, and overturned the ban on any publicity of the show. The CBC and the
National Film Board of Canada appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Opinion of the Court
The majority of the Court held that the publication ban was in violation of the freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the Charter.
Aftermath
The Court set out a test for a publication ban to be granted, and this has since become known as the ''Dagenais/Mentuck'' test:
canlii.org: "R. v. Larue, 2012 YKSC 15 (CanLII)"
/ref>
Smith J stated in a 2014 judgment that:[canlii.org: "R v Bourque, 2014 NBQB 263 (CanLII)]
2014-12-04
See also
* List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Lamer Court)
External links
*
References
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms case law
Canadian freedom of expression case law
Supreme Court of Canada cases
1994 in Canadian case law
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Publication bans in Canadian case law
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