After petitioning the court, the Official Opposition received copies of the Government affidavits on April 2, the same day they were made available to the public at the court registry. These affidavits are now published on this website in their entirety. Each affidavit can be accessed as it was presented to the court. Additionally, material from the affidavits can be accessed using the subject indexes, which group together similarly themed material from all of the affidavits.

The 6 affidavits made available by Madam Justice Bennett in response to our request are:

1) A June 6, 2007 affidavit from Sue Filion , legal secretary with the Legal Services Branch, which sets out correspondence relating to the defence disclosure application. This affidavit also includes correspondence between the RCMP and senior civil servants regarding the raid on the Legislature. Emails from Kevin Begg of the Solicitor General’s office state that his office had avoided producing a paper trail regarding the RCMP investigation in the days leading up to the Legislature raids.

2) An affidavit from Nancy Reimer , assistant to George Copley, dated October 23, 2007. This affidavit sets out the Government’s position on disclosure of a number of documents, including assertions of solicitor-client privilege. Also includes material related to the FOI request made by defence counsel.

3) A second affidavit from Nancy Reimer , introduced in court on December 14, 2007, which includes the 2004 document review protocol that has the Deputy Cabinet Secretary making decisions regarding assertions of privilege. This affidavit also includes material relating to the initial screening of documents by Associate Chief Justice Dohm.

4) A second affidavit from Sue Filion , dated January 7, 2008. This affidavit comprises the contents of a binder of materials from George Copley’s office, and includes email and other correspondence relating to document review, claims of privilege, and disclosure. Materials in this affidavit show the roles of Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel, Deputy Minister to the Premier Ken Dobell and Deputy Cabinet Secretaries Joy Illington and Elizabeth MacMillan in the document review process.

a) An email of January 12, 2004, from Deputy Attorney General Allan Seckel indicates that Seckel and Premier Gordon Campbell’s key advisor Ken Dobell discussed a process for disclosure prior to submission of the final protocol.

b) An email of November 24, 2004, from George Copley to Ken Dobell, reveals that on at least one occasion Copley received instructions from Dobell on whether to waive or assert privilege over documents seized during the raid on the Legislature.

c) In a January 13, 2006 email from George Copley to Elizabeth MacMillan, it becomes clear Copley expected instruction to come from someone in the ‘Premier’s Office’.

d) It appears that Copley first approached Seckel for instructions on whether or not to continue to assert privilege in a memorandum of August 24, 2007.

5) An affidavit from Government lawyer Maria Coley , dated January 20, 2008, which sets out most of the materials that inventory documents seized during the raid on the Legislature. Included here is the inventory of documents reviewed by Madam Justice Bennett, in which she indicates a document as related to the “consolation prize”.

6) A third affidavit from Sue Filion , filed in court on February 15, 2008. This affidavit sets out the Government position on disclosure of the three emails Madam Justice Bennett ruled as “significantly relevant”, including the email that goes to the “innocence at stake” principle.

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