The Canadian government has announced plans to publicly disclose legal fees spent on Charter cases of "national significance" through the Court Challenges Program. Blacklock's Reporter says this decision comes after years of criticism from opponents who have long demanded accountability and openness in the program's spending.According to a recent Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons, the government will publish a comprehensive list of closed cases funded by the program prior to its next annual report in November. However, the government continues to justify the concealment of records concerning ongoing cases, citing solicitor-client privilege.The Court Challenges Program was established to support worthy Charter challenges by plaintiffs who cannot afford legal fees, which can cost over a million dollars per case. Despite its noble intentions, the program has faced criticism for its secrecy, with many questioning who has received funding and how much.Professor Alan Young of Osgoode Hall Law School, who authored a 2017 report on the cost of Charter litigation, notes that advancing a constitutional case requires significant expenditure. "To properly advance a constitutional case may require a significant expenditure... With limited resources, however, most are reduced to the economy version."The program's secrecy has been a point of contention for years. In 2006, a previous Conservative cabinet disbanded the program due to complaints about its lack of transparency. Then-Attorney General Vic Toews testified in 2007 that the program's secrecy was an "abuse of solicitor-client privilege." “I first asked who got the money years before I was even in the federal government,” said Toews. “When I made those kinds of inquiries they said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t tell you because it would violate solicitor-client privilege.’ That was the grossest abuse of solicitor-client privilege I had ever heard of in my life.”“Not only did we not know who was getting the money because the group said they couldn’t tell us, but we didn’t know the criteria under which that money was spent."The current Liberal cabinet revived the program in 2017, but funding recipients and amounts allocated to cases remain undisclosed.To date, the program has spent $23,848,520, according to the Inquiry.
The Canadian government has announced plans to publicly disclose legal fees spent on Charter cases of "national significance" through the Court Challenges Program. Blacklock's Reporter says this decision comes after years of criticism from opponents who have long demanded accountability and openness in the program's spending.According to a recent Inquiry of Ministry tabled in the Commons, the government will publish a comprehensive list of closed cases funded by the program prior to its next annual report in November. However, the government continues to justify the concealment of records concerning ongoing cases, citing solicitor-client privilege.The Court Challenges Program was established to support worthy Charter challenges by plaintiffs who cannot afford legal fees, which can cost over a million dollars per case. Despite its noble intentions, the program has faced criticism for its secrecy, with many questioning who has received funding and how much.Professor Alan Young of Osgoode Hall Law School, who authored a 2017 report on the cost of Charter litigation, notes that advancing a constitutional case requires significant expenditure. "To properly advance a constitutional case may require a significant expenditure... With limited resources, however, most are reduced to the economy version."The program's secrecy has been a point of contention for years. In 2006, a previous Conservative cabinet disbanded the program due to complaints about its lack of transparency. Then-Attorney General Vic Toews testified in 2007 that the program's secrecy was an "abuse of solicitor-client privilege." “I first asked who got the money years before I was even in the federal government,” said Toews. “When I made those kinds of inquiries they said, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t tell you because it would violate solicitor-client privilege.’ That was the grossest abuse of solicitor-client privilege I had ever heard of in my life.”“Not only did we not know who was getting the money because the group said they couldn’t tell us, but we didn’t know the criteria under which that money was spent."The current Liberal cabinet revived the program in 2017, but funding recipients and amounts allocated to cases remain undisclosed.To date, the program has spent $23,848,520, according to the Inquiry.
