The Crown sought to vary an unsealing order for an Information to Obtain (ITO) related to a search warrant execution that resulted in a fatality, requesting to seal the identity of a civilian Toronto Police Service employee or impose a five-year publication ban.
The media outlets opposed the application.
The court dismissed the Crown's application, finding that the evidence did not objectively establish a serious risk to an important public interest sufficient to dislodge the presumption of openness under the Dagenais/Mentuck test, as refined by Sherman Estate v. Donovan.
The court noted the threats were directed at the officer who shot the deceased, not the civilian employee, and the link between the employee's identity and potential harm was speculative.
