Shielding the identities of five officers involved in the fatal shooting of a mentally ill man would cloak the police killing in “unprecedented” secrecy and pose a serious risk to Canadian court transparency, an Ontario Superior court heard Tuesday.
Legal arguments began in a lightning-rod case where five Peel Regional officers have made the rare request for a court-ordered publication ban on their identities. Online threats and broader, anti-police “vitriol” have created serious personal safety risks that justify placing a sweeping ban on the officers’ identities, the lawyer for the so-called “John Doe” officers argued in an ongoing lawsuit.
Protesters hold prayers outside the Malton apartment building where 62-year-old Ejaz Choudry was fatally shot in a June 22, 2020, file photo.