In Merck Frosst v. Canada, 2012 SCC 3, the forefront of the debate rests on the balance between commercial confidentiality and government transparency. In this 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) establishes a clear framework governing the disclosure of trade secrets, confidential information and commercially sensitive information filed with Health Canada for drug [...]

Can innovator pharmaceutical companies rely on exemptions in the Access to Information Act (the “Act”) to block the disclosure of documents that might contain information that could hurt its business? The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) handed down its long-awaited decision on the treatment of sensitive commercial information under the Act in Merck Frosst v. [...]

“Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” – Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, in “What Publicity Can Do”, Harper’s Weekly, 1913. In an environment that views public accountability with a healthy dose of skepticism, Parliament has advanced the Access to Information Act (the “Act”) to foster government transparency. In the pharmaceutical [...]

Even though our freedom of information legislation has not been thrust into the spotlight as violently as it did in the United States recently, we, as active citizens and civic participants, should take a closer look at our right to access information about governmental services in a timely and accurate fashion. Over the last few [...]

As it stands, 2010 has been an interesting year for members of the media and media lawyers who are interested in the legal dimensions of the relationship between a journalist and her source. In particular, the Supreme Court of Canada has weighed in on two different issues related to journalist-source privilege. Earlier this year, in [...]

Two years ago, the Federal Appeals Court for the Ninth Circuit (the “Ninth Circuit”) in Nelson v. NASA, No. 07-56424 (9th Cir. 2008) (pdf link) decided a case that has re-opened constitutional debate about employees’ right to protect personal information – especially from the allegedly prying eyes of the government. At issue for the Ninth [...]

Limits of journalistic press freedom for qualified-privilege and fair comment are hotly debated in jurisdictions around the world as courts try to balance the public interest in freedom of information with private reputational interests battling defamation. Last year, TheCourt covered Grant v. Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61 (“Torstar Corp.”), a decision that ranked as the top [...]

If there is one benefit of having a minority government in Ottawa, it’s that some aspect of constitutional theory actually gets put into practice. As any political science major (and law student) should know, the federal government is accountable to Parliament. Of course, in a majority government this is somewhat of an academic exercise, since [...]

If at first you do not succeed, try, try again. These words of wisdom convey the ethos of human rights advocacy: paucities of political power, limited financial resources, public indifference (if not outright hostility), and the slow pace of social change regularly conspire to cast those who persist in the fight for justice as idealistic [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada has taken big steps in the last year at making its records more accessible and its website more useful. I was reminded of the great potential of these resources last week when I got an email about one of the first questions that new U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor [...]