[BreachExchange] Personal information of more than 100 Quebec judges found in parking lot

[Audrey McNeil]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/personal-information-
of-more-than-100-quebec-judges-found-in-parking-lot-1.3904938

A secret list containing the home addresses, phone numbers and names of
spouses to dozens of Quebec Superior Court judges turned up in a parking
lot, leaving the court's spokesperson hoping no digital copies were made.

Caroline St-Pierre, a spokesperson for Les tribunaux judiciares du Quebec,
the group that represents all levels of court in the province, confirmed
the discovery to CBC in an email.

"It's worrying that confidential information concerning judges was found
out in the open," St-Pierre wrote.

She said courts have contacted provincial police about the discovery.

No digital copies

St-Pierre said she first learned of the situation when a reporter from La
Presse contacted her Monday.

The reporter had received a tip about the list being found in the parking
lot of a business in the Laurentians, west of Montreal.

St-Pierre says the list contained the personal information of 125
Montreal-based Superior Court judges.

Copies of this confidential list are distributed only to judges so they can
contact each other in the event of a last-minute replacement, for example,
she said.

"This document is only on paper. It's not sent by email, it's not on our
public website, our internal site or in our servers," St-Pierre said.

She added that it's important the list is not accessible to third parties.

St-Pierre said she had no idea how a copy of the list may have ended up in
a parking lot.

Judicial independence

The Canadian Judicial Council says on its website that judges must be free
from all influence.

"Judges should not be subject to any influence or surveillance. They have
to be protected and sheltered from all abusive influence, any form direct
or indirect of constraint, threat, or harassment," the document reads.

The Superior Court is the highest level of trial court in Quebec. Its
judges deal with cases involving the most serious crimes including murder.

St-Pierre said it was too early to say if there would be an internal
investigation into the matter. She said it has been referred to provincial
police.

A spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec said she could not confirm or deny
an investigation was underway.
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