Johnston c. Centre
régional de réception

[1995] R.J.Q. 3000, A.Q. No.1414 (Q.S.C.)

     This was an application for habeas corpus with certiorari in aid. J was involuntarily transferred from a medium security institution to a maximum-security institution on the basis of suspicions that he was planning to escape. J was told that hidden objects, which may have been useful in a planned escape, were uncovered during a routine search. J received a Progress Summary Report along with the Notice of Involuntary Transfer Recommendation that discussed his non-violent past but which failed to include any information about what had led to the suspicions of his alleged escape plan. J argued that his s7 Charter rights were violated since he had been given access only to parts of the report concerning his transfer. CSC officials submitted that the petition should be dismissed because there existed an alternative remedy in the CCR Regulations, namely the internal grievance process that J had not exhausted.
    The petition was allowed in part. Citing past case authority Béliveau J. indicated that the approach taken, as a whole, by the judges of the Quebec Superior Court is not to intervene when the initial remedies have not been exhausted unless there is some flagrant departure form or breach of an applicant’s constitutional rights. In agreeing to hear the application in this case, Béliveau J. noted that the question raised was constitutional in nature, was a serious question and that in some respects there was no precedent regarding it. Furthermore, the alternative remedy might not make settlement possible and may have the effect of delaying the outcome of the case. It was thus advisable for this Court to assume jurisdiction over the application to avoid the exhaustion of remedies rule being used to exhaust the parties. Turning to J’s submission that his Constitutional rights were violated, Béliveau J. held that J’s rights under s7 of the Charter were infringed upon when he was refused access to the complete report concerning his transfer. J was not given access to every document he had a right to.
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