Are privacy issues taken into consideration when the PSLRB posts its decisions on its website?
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that, outside of exceptional cases, the publics right to know how justice is administered takes precedence over the privacy of parties appearing before the courts. The same holds true with regard to proceedings before the PSLRB. Nevertheless, in December 2008, the PSLRB adopted the Protocol for the use of personal information in judgments approved by the Canadian Judicial Council in March 2005. This reflects the ongoing commitment of Members of the Board to seek a balance between the open-court principle and the privacy concerns of individuals, in accordance with accepted legal principles, and to report in their decisions only the personal information that is relevant and necessary for their reasons. This approach is consistent with the statement on the use of personal information in decisions of administrative tribunals and the posting of decisions on the websites of administrative tribunals that the Heads of Federal Administrative Tribunals Forum
