A joint application from eight media outlets to unseal the information RCMP used to obtain search warrants from the Nova Scotia mass shooter has been delayed by a week.
A hearing was held via teleconference Monday morning with provincial and federal Crown attorneys and lawyer David Coles for the media companies appearing before provincial Judge Laurie Halfpenny MacQuarrie, who replaced Judge Al Bégin.
There are at least five sealed warrant files pertaining to the investigation and two requests for production. One warrant is open to be served until midnight Monday.
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Warrants have been executed at properties belonging to Gabriel Wortman, who killed 22 people in five rural Nova Scotia communities on April 18 and 19. He was shot and killed in Enfield, but the RCMP has said they are still investigating how he obtained the weapons.
Mark Covan, representing the federal Crown for the Canada Border Services Agency, said he was only made aware of the case on Friday and needs time to review the warrants and information used to obtain warrants (ISOs).
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Judge MacQuarrie granted a one-week postponement, saying she’d like to hold hearings as quickly as possible before the courts become overwhelmed in June.
“This is a serious matter on all sides,” she said. “We are in this COVID situation, unfortunately, but the upside of that is the court now has the time to deal with it.”
MacQuarrie is expecting all parties involved to lay out their positions on the matter on Monday, May 11.
Coles, the lawyer representing the seven media outlets, says the ongoing investigation is adding a layer of increased difficulty.
“There may be warrants issued in the future and sealed and the judge simply isn’t prepared to deal with future, hypothetical warrants,” Coles said.
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Coles said based on the discussion last week, he did not expect the federal Crown to need this extra time.
“I’m not saying there’s anything untoward about that, just the expectation based upon the call last week was the dates would be set today.”
The initial application was submitted to Truro provincial court by the CBC. Several other media outlets, Global, CTV, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia, the Canadian Press, SaltWire Network and the Halifax Examiner, have joined the application.
— With files from the Canadian Press
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