Supreme Court of Canada hears appeal of Privacy in Judicial Meeting

[Lance]

https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/41816/

 

I watched the Supreme Court of Canada take the appeal from the branch. We lost the court case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia regarding the privacy of documents in two men  who left the congregation. They wanted all congregation records of their decision to no longer be a Jehovah's Witnesses. 

There were numerous intervenors in the case supporting religious privacy...

So now the Supreme Court of Canada has to decide if they will overturn the BC Supreme Court

https://supremeadvocacy.ca/2025/11/20/scc-today-1-leave-granted-11-dismissed-5/

Granted

Charter: Freedom of Religion

Vabuolas, et al. v. Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, et al., 2025 BCCA 83 (41816)
The Respondents, Mr. Gabriel-Liberty Wall and Mr. Gregory Westgarde, former members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, each submitted independent access requests pursuant to s. 23 of the B.C. Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) for the disclosure of religious pastoral notes held by the Applicants Grand Forks Congregation Jehovah’s Witnesses and Coldstream Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses, their former Jehovah’s Witnesses’ congregations. Mr. Wall’s request was denied by the Grand Forks Congregation on the grounds the records contained “privileged and confidential religious communications”. Similarly, Mr. Westgarde was initially informed by the Coldstream Congregation no personal information was held, but the Congregation later acknowledged while personal records did exist, they constituted confidential religious communications protected under the common law and the Charter. Dissatisfied with the responses received, the Respondents requested the B.C. Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (“Commissioner”) review the congregations’ decisions. The matter was referred to mediation by the Commissioner. After the failed mediation, the Commissioner assigned an adjudicator to conduct an inquiry under s. 50 of PIPA. Because of the constitutional issues raised, notice was also given to the Respondent the A.G. B.C. Despite finding the impugned provisions infringed the religious freedoms of Applicants and congregational elders Mr. John Vabuolas and Mr. Paul Sidhu under s. 2(a) of the Charter, the adjudicator concluded the infringement was justified under s. 1. The adjudicator ordered the Grand Forks and Coldstream Congregations to produce all records in their custody or control containing Mr. Wall and Mr. Westgarde’s personal information, for her review as the Commissioner’s delegate. The Applicants filed a J.R. of the adjudicator’s decision. The B.C.S.C. dismissed the J.R. and the B.C.C.A. dismissed the appeal. “The application for leave to appeal…is granted with costs in the cause.”