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Sinclair inquiry could be delayed by appeal over transcripts
The ruling of an Appeal Court judge will determine whether the public hearing into the death of Phoenix Sinclair starts next week.
Justice Marc Monnin spent four hours earlier today listening to arguments from the lawyer for a group of Aboriginal child welfare authorities, who are challenging the decision by Inquiry Commissioner Ted Hughes, who has refused to release the transcripts of interviews with 140 individuals, mostly child welfare workers.
Phoenix Sinclair was a five-year-old Aboriginal girl who was in care or under the watch of child and family services agencies before being brutally beaten and then murdered by her mother and stepfather in 2005. Phoenix's body was buried near a dump at Fisher River for nine months before any agency knew she was missing.
The child welfare authorities want Monnin to send the dispute to a full panel of the Court of Appeal but Commission Counsel Sherri Walsh said that subjecting Hughes’ decision to the Appeal Court will mean the public hearings will not begin Sept. 5 as scheduled.
The commission has only agreed to distribute a summary of the interviews from witnesses who will testify -- a process that is still not completed -- but the child welfare authorities want the transcripts from all the interviews that were conducted, regardless of whether those people will be testifying.
Monnin reserved his decision, stating he may not make a ruling before the start of the public hearings next week.
Kris Saxberg, lawyer for the child welfare authorities, said Hughes’ decision to not release the transcripts is a violation of the Inquiry’s own rules of order that require all documents be shared among those who have standing at the inquiry.
Saxberg said that courts have ruled the public interest is best served when there is as much public disclosure as possible of all evidence.
"We want to ensure that at the end of the day, this commission is a fair, fact-finding process," Saxberg told the court.
Saxberg said the Inquiry has been working on a tight timeline since it was appointed, adding it’s not unreasonable to delay the public hearings for a short time to ensure an open and fair process.
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