Access to Information in Administrative Tribunals: Toronto Star v. The Attorney General of Ontario
Emma Phillips and Mary-Elizabeth Dill
Emma Phillips & Mary-Elizabeth Dill, “Access to Information in Administrative Tribunals: Toronto Star v. The Attorney General of Ontario” (2019) 32 C.J.A.L.P. 45
In this case comment, Emma Phillips and Mary-Elizabeth Dill discuss the April 2018 decision of the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto Star v. The Attorney General of Ontario. The court held that administrative tribunals are subject to the open court principle and that, therefore, tribunal adjudicative records must be presumptively accessible to the public.
In so holding, the court upended the privacy protocols in place in many tribunals, and raised concerns about whether sensitive personal information will now end up in the public realm.
Emma and Mary-Elizabeth discuss the legal reasoning that led to the Court’s decision as well as the potential legal and practical implications of the decision. They conclude that new legal challenges are likely to arise as tribunals, information requesters, and parties before tribunals seek to understand and shape the scope of information that can or should be made publicly accessible.
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Lawyers
Emma Phillips, Mary-Elizabeth Dill