PO-1922

The Ministry of the Attorney General (the Ministry) provided the following background, which I find is useful for the purposes of the discussion which follows in this order.

This appeal arises from the Ministry of the Attorney General's (the "Ministry") decision denying the Appellant's revised request for the total dollar amount paid by the Ministry pursuant to the Proceedings Against the Crown Act for legal costs of parties who were not defendants in the criminal proceedings against [the accused] on charges of obstruction of justice and possession of child pornography. During the course of mediation, the Ministry agreed to create a record based on the 182 pages of documents in its possession which reflects this total amount. Access to the record was denied by the Ministry pursuant to sections 19 and 21 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the "Act").

It is well known and a matter of public record that [the accused] was tried and acquitted of obstruction of justice and possession of child pornography after a lengthy and controversial trial. .... During the course of the preliminary inquiry, His Honour Judge ... of the Ontario Court of Justice granted an order permitting [Person A] to be represented by counsel at the prosecution of [the accused] in order to address issues involving solicitor client privilege and ordered the Ministry of the Attorney General to pay the costs of this representation. During the course of the same preliminary inquiry, His Honour also permitted [Person B], one of the witnesses, to be represented by counsel and ordered that the Crown bear the cost of this representation. Following the preliminary inquiry, the Honourable Mr. Justice ... of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered the continued representation of [Persons A and B] by counsel at the trial of [the accused].

In accordance with the court orders, counsel for [Persons A and B] submitted their statement of account to the Ministry for payment. These legal bills were paid by the Ministry pursuant to section 22 of the Proceedings Against the Crown Act. Section 22 of that Act provides that:

22. The Minister of Finance shall pay out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund the amount payable by the Crown,

(a) under an order of a court that is final and not subject to appeal;

(b) under a settlement of a proceeding in a court; or

(c) under a settlement of a claim that is the subject of a notice of claim under section 7.

The record at issue in this appeal reflects a sum that was paid for a number of invoices submitted by counsel who represented the two non-defendants at the preliminary inquiry and trial of [the accused]. The record was created by Crown counsel using information supplied directly from the solicitor's statements of accounts, which had been submitted for payment to the Ministry in accordance with the Court orders. ...

• FIPPA