Gov’t Needs Secrets to Protect Lives and Rule of Law: Law Professor to Interference Inquiry

(L-R) University of Montreal professor Pierre Trudel, Carleton University professor Leah West and University of Calgary professor Michael Nesbitt are seen during a panel discussion at the Public Inquiry Into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions in Ottawa on Jan. 30, 2024. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Law professors have provided the Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference some advice on how to tackle the dilemma of safeguarding sensitive information while maintaining democratic transparency, with one of them saying state secrets exist to protect lives.

There are “very good reasons why governments maintain secrecy and confidentiality in a number of cases, including to protect lives, or contrary to what some may think, even to protect the rule of law,” University of Calgary law professor Michael Nesbitt told the commission on Jan. 30.