BC Jehovah's Witnesses challenge commissioner order - New West Record
B.C. Jehovah’s Witness congregations in Coldstream and Grand Forks have challenged an information commissioner’s order to turn over documents to B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC).
The June 20 order from OIPC director of adjudication Elizabeth Barker determined the church must hand over records on two former members so it can decide "what access to the records, if any, the applicants should be given."
And, in challenging the order, the congregations are also challenging the constitutionality of the provincial Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). They say the order is beyond the OIPC’s jurisdiction and, in a B.C. Supreme Court petition filed Aug. 2, requested the order be quashed.
The church had refused to turn over personal records sought by former Jehovah's Witnesses Gregory Westgarde and Gabriel-Liberty Wall, who are seeking return of their personal records.
The congregations refused the requests, claiming the records are confidential and that compelling production violates their constitutional rights.
The church argued at the OIPC that PIPA did not apply to it, an assertion with which Barker disagreed.
While Barker found measures in PIPA do infringe freedom of religion, that infringement is justifiable under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She said the congregations did not establish that PIPA infringes freedom of expression, freedom of association or unreasonable search and seizure under the charter.
Much of the issues hinge around records made by church elders after members left the church.
[more...]
B.C. Jehovah’s Witness congregations in Coldstream and Grand Forks have challenged an information commissioner’s order to turn over documents to B.C.’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC).
The June 20 order from OIPC director of adjudication Elizabeth Barker determined the church must hand over records on two former members so it can decide "what access to the records, if any, the applicants should be given."
And, in challenging the order, the congregations are also challenging the constitutionality of the provincial Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). They say the order is beyond the OIPC’s jurisdiction and, in a B.C. Supreme Court petition filed Aug. 2, requested the order be quashed.
The church had refused to turn over personal records sought by former Jehovah's Witnesses Gregory Westgarde and Gabriel-Liberty Wall, who are seeking return of their personal records.
The congregations refused the requests, claiming the records are confidential and that compelling production violates their constitutional rights.
The church argued at the OIPC that PIPA did not apply to it, an assertion with which Barker disagreed.
While Barker found measures in PIPA do infringe freedom of religion, that infringement is justifiable under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She said the congregations did not establish that PIPA infringes freedom of expression, freedom of association or unreasonable search and seizure under the charter.
Much of the issues hinge around records made by church elders after members left the church.
[more...]
