PROFESSIONAL REGULATORS MAY OBTAIN TRANSCRIPTS FROM PROCEEDINGS SUBJECT TO A PROVINCIAL COURT PUBLICATION BAN IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES

Recently, the College of Teachers obtained an order producing the transcript of evidence of a child witness at a preliminary hearing in respect of a teacher, Mr. Sidhu, who had been criminally charged with sexually offending against a child: The BC College of Teachers v. British Columbia 2010 BCSC 847.
Mr. Sidhu had resigned from the College a few years before the charges were laid. He was ordered to stand trial following the preliminary hearing, but ultimately the charges were stayed and did not proceed. There were 2 publication bans pursuan tto s.539(10) and 486.4(2) of the Criminal Code.
The College intended to proceed against Mr. Sidhu in a discipline hearing and had applied for access to the transcript of the child's evidence for use in those proceedings. The ban pursuant to s.539 was made at the beginning of the preliminary inquiry and was in effect until such time as Mr. Sidhu was discharged or the trial had ended. Mr. Sidhu argued that the stay of proceedings was not an end to the trial, as no trial had been commenced so that the ban remained in effect. The Court did not accept this argument and found that in the circumstances, in light of the stay and the fact that one year had passed since the stay had been entered, the trial was at an end, and so the publication ban was at an end.
The situation with respect to a s.486.4(2) ban was different. This section requires the consent of the complainant before the ban may be lifted. The complainant was still an infant, was not in the jurisdiction and was not expected to testify before the College.
The Court decided to release the transcript, but not in a manner in which the ban would be violated. The transcript had to be reviewed by the Crown first and where applicable, all information that could identify the child complainant had to be removed.
The case is helpful because it indicates the court's willingness to interpret publication ban provisions liberally so as to assist professional regulators to carry out their duties. It is not clear how the College could use the transcript, if such important information is removed from it and the child witness was not going to testify, but that is another matter.