A quick update ..... chaos reigns down at the Manitoba Queen's Bench File Registry!

Good Day Readers:

CyberSmokeBlog was at today's preliminary hearing involving the  Douglas Inquiry. More about that a little later other than to say for now its turned into a veritable circus. Independent Counsel Mme Suzanne Cote reminded us Halloween was coming.

Of increasing concern was CSB's inability (today) to access a statement of claim (public domain document) at The Law Courts. This involves a defamation lawsuit filed quite recently by a Winnipeg police sergeant/supervisor against the police officer husband of a junior officer who has claimed she was sexually harassed by the sergeant. The sergeant maintains it was consensual. Also named as defendants are the City of Winnipeg and the Winnipeg Police Department. Chief of Police Devon Clunis has been quite tight lipped on the situation as there's also an ongoing internal police investigation underway.

The problem is both a Winnipeg Free Press article plus one by CBC Manitoba (virtually identical) for whatever reason(s) did not identify the name of the sergeant (plaintiff) or the lower level police officer defendant (husband of the junior officer) making it virtually impossible to find a file number. At any given time there are multiple lawsuits in the system against the City of Winnipeg and/or Winnipeg Police Service.

Suffice it to say for now that's where our (more correctly their - i.e. Queen's Bench File Registry's) problem begins.

CyberSmokeBlog will have much, much more to say about this situation in the coming days. Essentially, it was denied the means to identify and thus access what should be a publicly available court document. Not good, not good at all!

Sincerely,
Clare L. Pieuk