N.S. judge puts publication ban on identities of undercover police in cannabis case

A publication ban has been placed on the names of two undercover police officers who may testify in a Halifax woman’s bid for compensation for marijuana plants she says police destroyed.

Judge Theodore Tax ordered the ban today during a hearing into Sherri Reeve’s application to be compensated for the alleged destruction of her medical marijuana plants and growing equipment following a September 2014 police seizure.

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Reeve was in Dartmouth provincial court with her husband, Christopher Enns, the owner of the Farm Assists Medical Cannabis Resource Centre, for a status report on their application for compensation under section 24 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Federal lawyer Jan Jensen said he’ll be seeking a ruling on whether the provincial court has jurisdiction to provide a remedy to Reeve, and asked for a temporary publication ban on the undercover officers’ names in the meantime.

Reeve and Enns’ lawyer, Kirk Tousaw, opposed the identity ban application, arguing it was “superfluous” and that the information about the undercover officer had already been in the public domain.

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However, Tax granted the interim ban after Jensen argued the officers remain in the field and are at risk of harm if their identities are publicly revealed.

Tax said there could be further arguments on whether a permanent publication ban should be ordered when the couple, along with the lawyers, appear before him again on April 4 on the issue of whether his court has jurisdiction over Reeve’s application.