A criminal trial witness is suing a Winnipeg judge, alleging she has been harassed and abused after her name was included in a court decision posted online, despite a publication ban.
The privacy breach has forced the witness to leave the province “due to multiple threats, and multiple violent physical and verbal attacks,” alleges a statement of claim filed in Manitoba Court of King’s Bench this week.
Justice Ken Champagne — whose 2023 written ruling included the witness’s name and the names of other witnesses and was briefly posted online, and the provincial government are named defendants in the lawsuit.
Statements of defence have not been filed. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Prior to the witness testifying, the court confirmed the presence of a publication ban protecting her identity, “given the nature of the proceeding and the risk (she) was likely to be exposed to by participating in the trial,” the statement of claim alleges.
“The publication ban and the reassurance of the defendant Champagne was relied on by the plaintiff,” says the statement of claim. “The details of the anticipated testimony of the plaintiff was private and it was recognized that publication of same could have life-altering impacts on the plaintiff.”
Champagne delivered an oral decision last year that convicting the accused in the case, but when the decision was later posted on the Court of King’s Bench website, it still included the witness’s full name and “facts damaging to the plaintiff,” alleges the statement of claim.
Alerted to the privacy breach, Champagne apologized to the witness at a subsequent sentencing hearing for the convicted offender.
Champagne told court he was working with a new assistant and a “miscommunication” resulted in an unredacted version of his decision being posted online without his knowledge.
“I take full responsibility for that decision being published without the proper redactions to protect the identities of the witnesses, which was against the publication ban that I put in place at the outset of the trial,” Champagne said at the time. “I take responsibility that your name was out there in the public — it should not have been.”
A publication ban was placed on the offender’s name after court heard an internet search of the offender’s name would reveal the identities of the protected witnesses.
The statement of claim alleges the witness has suffered “stress, anxiety, and depression” since her identity was outed, and has had to shutter multiple businesses “due to active threats.”
“The defendants acknowledged that they had become aware of the breach of privacy that developed from the publishing of the decision, but the defendants have refused and/or failed to provide any meaningful response to the plaintiff’s concerns or issues,” the statement of claim alleges.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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