Sujit Choudhry

The respondents, Twitter, brought a motion to strike the applicants' notice of application under Rule 21.01(1)(b) for disclosing no reasonable cause of action.

The applicants alleged breach of contract after Twitter refused to sell them advertising space, arguing the refusal violated the duty of good faith, was unconscionable, and breached public policy informed by Charter values of freedom of expression.

The court dismissed the motion, finding that the applicants pleaded sufficient facts to state causes of action and that it was not plain and obvious the claims would fail.

The applicants sought an order requiring the federal government to regulate Twitter to prevent it from refusing to sell them 'promoted tweets' for their political documentary film.

The Attorney General moved to dismiss the application for failing to state a reasonable cause of action.

The court applied the Supreme Court of Canada's test for positive rights under section 2(b) of the Charter, finding that the applicants were not effectively precluded from meaningful expression, as they could still use regular tweets and other advertising mediums.

The court also held that the relief sought was not justiciable, as it would require the court to set legislative priorities.

The motion was granted and the application was dismissed.

The Death Investigation Oversight Council (DIOC) brought a motion for a sealing order over autopsy files and a redaction order for witness identities in its record of proceedings, which was filed in response to an application for judicial review by Dr. Jane Turner.

Applying the Sherman Estate test, the Divisional Court held that while identifying information in the autopsy files must be redacted to protect the dignity of the deceased infants and their families, sealing the entire files was unnecessary.

The court also refused to redact the identities of witnesses interviewed during the DIOC's investigation, finding that the open court principle did not pose a serious risk to the public interest in witness candour.

The oversight council brought a motion to seal and redact the record of proceedings in an application for judicial review brought by the applicant.

The proposed redactions aimed to protect the identities of witnesses and deceased individuals.

The Divisional Court adjourned the motion, finding it would be contrary to the due administration of justice to proceed without giving notice to the potentially affected non-parties whose privacy interests were at stake.