Crown prosecutor salaries to be kept off Alberta 'Sunshine list'

A temporary injunction has been granted which will keep the names and salaries of Crown prosecutors off Alberta's 'Sunshine list' when it is released for the first time on Friday. 

A Crown prosecutor, whose name is under a temporary publication ban, was behind the last-minute injunction that was heard in Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench on Thursday afternoon. 

The list will contain the names and salaries of government employees who make more than $100,000 a year. 

But the prosecutor argues that disclosure of her salary violates Alberta privacy laws and affects her personal safety.

“Crown prosecutors take a lot of risks in the work that they do. They deal oftentimes with dangerous people, people who are often motivated to do harm to Crown prosecutors," said Paul Moreau, the lawyer who argued the case on her behalf. 

“The more information is out there in the public domain about a Crown prosecutor, the less secure they are.”

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Doreen Sulyma agreed that specific salary amounts are personal and harm caused by releasing that information could be irreparable. 

The list is expected to come out but the injunction forces the government to leave out salaries for Crown prosecutors. 

Moreau expects a date will be set shortly for the court to hear arguments on a permanent injunction. 

Other provinces with sunshine lists include the names and salaries of Crown prosecutors. However, Moreau could not find any challenges questioning their legality suggesting that they haven't been tested.