WHAT: BCCLA, Animal Justice, and Centre for Freedom of Expression at the Ontario Court of Appeal to jointly intervene in Democracy Watch v Ontario Integrity Commissioner, to defend the public interest in holding government decision-makers accountable for their actions

WHEN: April 5, 2024, at 10:00am EST / 7:00am PST

WHERE: Court of Appeal for Ontario (Toronto)

Toronto, ON (traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples) – The BC Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), Animal Justice and Centre for Freedom of Expression (CFE) are jointly intervening on the Ontario Court of Appeal case Democracy Watch v Ontario Integrity Commissioner, to argue that members of the public and social justice groups must be allowed to challenge government decisions that benefit private individuals’ interests.

In 2023, Democracy Watch was barred from challenging nine Ontario Integrity Commissioner decisions that benefitted lobbyists accused of conflicts of interest and violating lobbying laws. The Ontario Superior Court held that Democracy Watch was not aligned with the private interests at stake, and that the Lobbyist Registration Act excluded public interest litigants from challenging the Commissioner’s decisions. Democracy Watch appealed this decision to the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The BCCLA, Animal Justice and CFE will argue that it is especially important for members of the public and advocacy groups to challenge government decision-makers in situations where a private interest party has no motive to do so. Without this option, wrongly made decisions that violate legal boundaries could cause significant harm in a wide range of issues, including animal welfare, police complaints, environmental assessment, conflicts of interest, free expression limitations, and tax administration. The public must be allowed to step in and hold government decision-makers accountable. 

We also argue that judges must be allowed to grant public interest litigants the ability to hold government actors accountable, without interference from legislation. Judges’ ability to grant public interest standing is a constitutionally protected power, not something that can be taken away by ambiguous wording in a provincial or federal statute.

The BCCLA, Animal Justice and CFE are represented by Mani Kakkar at Mani Kakkar Law, and Sujit Choudhry at Haki Chambers Global.

The BCCLA, Animal Justice and CFE’s factum is available here.