View From the Legislature

As most people know, the speed at which government works is slow. Often, frustratingly slow.

But when it comes to the issue of letting television cameras into Manitoba courtrooms, slow hardly describes it. Five years ago the NDP Minister of Justice, Dave Chomiak, acknowledged that television cameras should be allowed into Manitoba courts. In fact, he went so far as to declare the time had come to let them it. Well, half a decade later, television cameras are still barred from the courts and it appears the NDP are standing in the way.

The rationale for allowing cameras into most cases (they would still be banned from cases where identities, witnesses and children need to be protected) is that it would bring transparency to the court system. The court system is very much a mystery to many people and there is a gulf between the perception and the reality of what happens in our courts. Allowing cameras to cover the cases that are of public interest would give people a better opportunity to understand why certain decisions are made. Far from being something that judges or lawyers should fear, it should be seen as a welcomed opportunity.

Critics of the concept say that allowing cameras in will turn Manitoba courts into a circus. They point to the U.S. as a negative example. The reality is that while the U.S. and Canada share a common law system, there are many historical and legislative variations between our courts that cause them to be different and it has nothing to do with cameras.

In fact, the Supreme Court of Canada has allowed cameras for years and anyone who has viewed those proceedings knows it is anything but a circus.

The NDP had a perfect opportunity to open the door for cameras in our courts when the media requested them for Tuesday’s sentencing of former hockey coach Graham James, who had been convicted of molesting several players on his teams over the years. Allowing the public to view the sentencing of James would have caused no harm or prejudice to him or his known victims.

Yet it was the NDP government, through their lawyer, that argued against allowing the cameras into the court. Five years after the NDP Minister of Justice said the time had come to move into the modern era, they slammed the door.

While it is accepted that government is not the quickest moving creature on the earth, there is also an expectation that where change is needed and can be done, that it happen in a reasonable time frame. The time to bring transparency to Manitoba courtrooms is long past.

Graham James was sentenced on Tuesday and partially as a result of government arguments, there were no cameras there to capture the decision. Ultimately, he was given two years for the repeated sexual assaults on his victims. A sentence that did not fit the crime. Maybe that’s the real reason the NDP didn’t want people to see the decision.