The Crown brought an application under s. 486(1) of the Criminal Code to exclude the public and media from the courtroom during the testimony of the accused and three other witnesses due to national security concerns.
The accused, a former civilian member of the RCMP, was charged under the Security of Information Act.
Applying the Sherman Estate test for discretionary limits on court openness, the court found a serious risk that classified information could be inadvertently disclosed during cross-examination.
The court granted the order, directing that the public be excluded during the specified testimony, but required that vetted transcripts be released as soon as possible to balance the open court principle with national security interests.
