B.C. vows improved court file access

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British Columbia’s attorney general promises sweeping changes to make the province’s courts more open in the wake of a Victoria Times Colonist investigation that exposed inconsistent access practices at courthouse registries. Mike de Jong says an outdated policy that authorizes clerks to withhold an entire file when a publication ban protects a name or other information will be scrapped and new access rules will have a “presumption in favour of releasing information.” Read the Times Colonist report.

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