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Kevin Smith

Litigation counsel at Farris LLP in Vancouver, counsel for respondents Gabriel-Liberty Wall and Gregory Westgarde in SCC case 41816 (Vabuolas v. BC Information and Privacy Commissioner).

Oct 12, 2026

Supreme Court of Canada Hearings (English Audio)

Supreme Court of Canada Hearings (English Audio)

John Vabuolas, et al. v. Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, et al. (41816)

Oct 12 · 4h 33m

Sheilah MartinUNKNOWN
103:37
Is that consideration not tantamount to really the balancing required pursuant to proportionality in terms of the statute's objective itself and the engaged charter rights?
Kevin SmithGUEST
103:50
Justice Joyal, I agree with that.
Kevin SmithGUEST
103:53
And on a case-by-case basis, there may be other important rights to take into account.
Kevin SmithGUEST
103:58
Here, I submit that the records applicants also have Section 2A rights in play.
Kevin SmithGUEST
104:04
That won't be the case in every access request.
Kevin SmithGUEST
104:07
Access requests as a class engage certain quasi-constitutional principles.
Kevin SmithGUEST
104:12
They cannot easily be displaced.
Mahmud JamalUNKNOWN
109:10
One doesn't trump the other.

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