Supreme Court rules in favour of CBC in publication ban case

The Supreme Court of Canada has overturned a court order that would have forced the CBC to remove information identifying a young murder victim in reports published on its website several days before a publication ban was issued.

In a unanimous decision, the high court ruled the injunction order was not valid because the Crown had not proven a strong case that the CBC would be ultimately be found guilty of criminal contempt.

"This is not an easy burden to discharge and … the Crown has failed to do so here," the judgment reads.

The case stems from the murder of a 14-year-old girl in Edson, Alberta in March 2016. The CBC published two online articles that included the victim's name and photograph before a publication ban was ordered.

Alberta's attorney general asked the CBC to remove the identifying information from the two stories after the ban was issued, but the CBC refused. The CBC did not identify the girl after the ban went into effect, but did not remove or alter earlier reports archived and searchable on its website.

The Crown alleged the CBC was in contempt of court, and applied for an injunction requiring the CBC to temporarily remove the girl's personal information.

An Alberta judge has already found that the CBC was not guilty of criminal contempt over the publication ban.

That contempt ruling is being appealed, and the case is set to be heard in the spring.

The Media Coalition, composed of major media publishers and broadcasters across Canada through newspapers, magazines, radio, television, internet and other new media, intervened in the Supreme Court case.

"The fact that new technologies such as the internet and online publication may allow for a publisher to edit the content of online stories, should not justify criminal charges or a mandatory injunction to remove or "unpublish" a previously published story, particularly when such sanctions infringe a media outlet's freedom of expression rights," the coalition had argued in a factum filed with the court.

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