The DOJ's response to House Law Clerk

Here's the government's response to the House law clerk on the question of whether the Canada Evidence Act applies to parliamentary proceedings.

"The Department of Justice of Canada has great respect for the work of parliamentary committees, and Ministers, government officials and the law officers of the Crown strive to provide them with information in a full and transparent manner," Carolyn Kobernick, assistant deputy minister of the Department of Justice's public law sector, writes in a letter dated Dec. 9 to Robert Walsh.

"However, government officials are sometimes under a legal requirement, imposed by a law of Parliament such as the Privacy Act or the Income Tax Act, not to disclose certain information without the consent of those to whom a duty of confidentiality is owed."

Kobernick's letter continues: "The Parliament of Canada has established important rules under the Canada Evidence Act in relation to the handling or disclosure of information concerning international relations, international defence or national security. Under section 37, a 'Minister of the Crown in right of Canada or other official may object to the disclosure of information before a court, person or body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information by certifying orally or in writing to the court, person or body that the information should not be disclosed on the grounds of a specified public interest.' Again, a parliamentary committee is not a body with jurisdiction to compel the production of information, so it is not in a position to oblige the release of information of this kind, but clearly, the values underlying Parliament's intention in these provisions -- to protect the national security of Canada from harm by the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information -- must inform the actions of Ministers and officials."