CONTINUED SECRECY AN INTOLERABLE STATE OF AFFAIRS

Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied; The People Cannot Be Kept In The
Dark When The Integrity Of Their Institutions Is At Stake

Sunday will mark three weeks since the police raided the B.C.
legislature, and we know precious little more about the raids than we
did when they occurred.

Given what's at stake -- the integrity of the provincial government
and the federal Liberal party -- that's an intolerable state of affairs.

The secrecy surrounding the case has led to what one lawyer called a
"maelstrom of speculation." On Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice
Patrick Dohm had an opportunity to replace the speculation with facts,
but instead chose to keep us in the dark.

Specifically, Justice Dohm was asked by media lawyers, including The
Sun's, to release a summary of the search warrant materials, which
would give the public some indication of what the case is about. In
response, Justice Dohm essentially told lawyers that there's no hurry
to release the information.

And in what has to be the most puzzling comment delivered from the
bench in some time, Justice Dohm asked, "What's the difference between
now and three weeks from from now?"

With respect, there's a huge difference.

Justice delayed is justice denied, as every judge knows, and three
more weeks of speculation could derail the careers and further damage
the lives of countless innocent people.

Every judge also knows that court processes are, generally speaking,
open to the public. The openness exists to ensure that those under
state scrutiny receive fair treatment, and to allow the public to see
that justice is being done.

Further, Justice Dohm's comments follow a decision by the B.C. Court
of Appeal, which affirmed the importance of keeping court processes --
including search warrants -- public, unless police establish that
there is a real and substantive risk of harm if information is made
public.

In this case, the need for openness is even greater. Nine search
warrants were executed on Dec. 28, and the homes and offices of
several prominent provincial and federal Liberals were visited. The
action led to the firing of ministerial assistant Dave Basi and the
suspension of ministerial assistant Bob Virk.

Further, the home of Mandeep Sandhu, whom Mr. Basi had picked to sit
on a federal Liberal riding executive on Vancouver Island, was also
searched. So both the federal and provincial governments now find
themselves working under a cloud of suspicion.

That makes it enormously difficult for the provincial government to
carry on its business. And the news is even worse for the federal
Liberals, who are preparing for an election that is likely just months
away.

Justice Dohm's comments are more puzzling still, given that federal
prosecutor Johannes van Iperen said he was willing to release an
edited versions of the search warrant material in the drug
investigation. (Police are conducting two separate investigations -- a
drug case and a commercial crime probe.) Further, Mr. van Iperen said
the RCMP doesn't believe the drug case will be jeopardized if the
material is released.

To be sure, some parties do object to the release of material.

Special prosecutor William Berardino said the information must be kept
from the public to protect the privacy of people named in the
documents and to preserve the integrity of the commercial crime
investigation.

But there's little reason to believe all information must be kept
secret. It would, of course, be inappropriate to derail a police
investigation, but no one is asking for the release of all
information.

Rather, we're asking that an edited summary -- one with the names of
confidential informants and sensitive information blacked out -- be
released.

That's not too much to ask, given what's at stake.