Quebec is asking the Supreme Court of Canada to intervene in the case of the secret trial that took place recently in Quebec, so that certain information can be made public, while protecting the identity of the police informant who was charged in this unprecedented exercise.
Posted at 8:26 p.m.
” This judgment raised significant questions and concerns among the Quebec population and undermined public confidence in the administration of justice,” write the two lawyers for the Attorney General of Quebec, Ms.e Pierre-Luc Beauchesne and Mr.e Simon-Pierre Lavoie, in their petition to the Supreme Court.
Quebec is asking the Supreme Court to intervene so that the file be referred to the Court of Appeal and that the latter proceed to the partial unsealing of its file.
“A partial unsealing of the Court of Appeal file, even heavily redacted, is necessary in order to give tangible character and materiality to the present case, and this, in the context where no trace of the first instance trial exists. “, explain the lawyers of the Attorney General of Quebec.
The public must have access to the physical file of the Court of Appeal, and not only to the judgment rendered, even if several elements would be redacted. This is essential in order to put an end to the perception that the present case only exists in the memory of the parties concerned.
Lawyers for the Attorney General of Quebec
“The sound administration of justice and the public’s confidence in it are at stake,” they continue.
Outside the usual channels
In the past year, the Court of Appeal discovered, then deplored, that a criminal trial had been held in secret in Quebec. The Crown, the defense and the judge had agreed to proceed outside the usual channels, citing the need to protect the identity of the accused, who worked as a police informant.
The only trace of this exercise that remained was in the memory of the participants, according to the Court of Appeal, which denounced an arrangement “incompatible with the values of a liberal democracy”.
However, the Court refused to make public the name of the judge who complied with such an arrangement, as well as the names of the prosecutors and lawyers involved, who therefore cannot answer for their actions before the Bar and the Judicial Council. . The Press previously revealed that the prosecutors were attached to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), the federal Crown.
Their former boss, André Albert Morin, told The Press that he had never authorized such a course of action. Me Morin has since left office and was elected last Monday in the riding of Acadie under the banner of the Quebec Liberal Party.
PHOTO FROM THE QUEBEC LIBERAL PARTY WEBSITE
André Albert Morin declared that he did not authorize the holding of the secret trial as it took place.
The Director of Public Prosecutions of Canada, Kathleen Roussel, has refused since the beginning of this case to say whether her organization has used the same methods in other cases elsewhere in the country in order to convict the accused without the public being aware of it. informed.
A media group, which includes The Presshas already asked the Supreme Court to intervene in this case.