Open Letter: Quebec 'phantom trial' violates open court principle

This open letter was signed by 15 leaders of major media outlets in Quebec and sent to the chief justices of the Court of Quebec, Quebec Superior Court and the Quebec Court of Appeal, and to the province's justice minister. 

As leaders of Quebec's major newsrooms, we wish to express our indignation and our deep concern about the decision to hold a so-called "phantom trial," the existence of which was revealed in a judgment by the Quebec Court of Appeal. 

It is unacceptable that such a trial should be held in Quebec without the public being advised of, not only its existence, but the court where it was held, and the identities of the judge and the lawyers involved. 

In short, the trial was held in complete secrecy. With a stroke of a pen, the trial judge in question abandoned several centuries of democratic progress and brought us back to the sad era of the Star Chamber, the secretive, arbitrary tribunal created by King Henry VII in the 15th century.

How could such a farce occur here in 2021? Or 2022? Unfortunately, the public still doesn't know exactly when the trial was held.

Transparency is one of the foundations of our judicial system. As early as the 18th century, philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote: "Only in proportion as publicity has place can any of the checks applicable to judicial injustice operate. Where there is no publicity, there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the keenest spur to exertion and the surest of all guards against improbity."

This principle has been reaffirmed countless times by the Supreme Court of Canada: court proceedings should be public, except for the rarest of cases, with well-defined limits to ensure the highest level of transparency possible.

In recent years, it seems that Quebec courts have unfortunately ceded to demands by defence lawyers and by prosecutors with the Directeur des poursuites criminelles (DPCP), in granting more and more of these exceptions, and in doing so, eroding bit by bit the principle of judicial transparency.

In this sense, this secret trial is the culmination of a slow drift of our justice system away from the open court principle.

The revelation of this secret trial raises many questions. Who were the lawyers and the judge involved? Did this trial have the support of other actors of the justice system? Are there other cases that have also been tried in secret? These are only a few of the questions to which citizens deserve answers. 

Public confidence in our justice system hangs in the balance. It has been undermined considerably by the way this trial was held. It is important to not only shed light on what has happened, but also to draw lessons from it to prevent it from happening again. 

We are therefore asking for a thorough review of the practices of Quebec courts and of prosecutors in criminal trials, to ensure that this type of "phantom trial" cannot happen again in the future and to assess how to better support the public's right to information about the justice system, in the context of current trials. 

The media's role is to inform the public. We are therefore well-placed to contribute actively to this process. Together, we can find solutions that promote open courts and the public's right to information.

Signed:

François Cardinal, vice-president news and deputy publisher, La Presse

Luce Julien, executive director, news and current affairs, Société Radio-Canada

Julie-Christine Gagnon, program director at 98,5 FM, Cogeco Media

Karen Macdonald, news director, Global News, Montreal

Lenie Lucci, interim editor in chief, Montreal Gazette

Melanie Porco, supervising producer, CityNews Montreal (Citytv)

Helen Evans, managing editor, CBC Quebec

Brodie Fenlon, editor in chief, CBC News

Geneviève Rossier, publisher and general manager, La Presse Canadienne

Éric Trottier, general manager, Le Soleil

Hugo Fontaine, general manager, La Tribune

Éric Brousseau, general manager, Le Droit

Christian Malo, general manager, La Voix de l'Est

Stéphan Frappier, general manager and editor in chief, Le Nouvelliste

Marc St-Hilaire, general manager, Le Quotidien