The 2015 court case, Fontaine v Saskatchewan (Attorney General), 205 SKQB 220, absolved the Corporation of Catholic Entities Party to the Indian Residential School Settlement’s (CCEPIRSS), from all obligations under the 2006 Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA). The files from the court case had not been sealed nor had they been placed under a publication ban. At the same time, they had not been made available to the public. In summer 2021, The Globe and Mail and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) thus submitted a formal court application to the Court of Queen’s Bench for Saskatchewan requesting access to the files. The application was brought by Sean M. Sinclair, counsel for The Globe and Mail and the CBC. The Honourable Mr. Justice N.G. Gabrielson, the judge who presided over the 2015 court case, presided over this application also.

An initial brief of law was submitted on August 17, 2021 by Sean M. Sinclair on behalf of The Globe and Mail and the CBC (the Applicants) to support the request to gain access to the 2015 court files. The application was originally set for August 23, 2021, but upon questioning of counsel on several points by Justice Gabrielson, the matter was adjourned to September 8, 2021 to allow for further research. This supplemental brief of law, submitted by Sinclair, responds to Justice Gabrielson's questions with the following arguments: the "application for access to the Court File is not required to brought in accordance with the RFD procedure set forth in the Agreement"; the "application for access to the court file does not offend the in rem order of Justice Perell"; and the "Applicants can sufficiently narrow the scope of the what documents they are seeking to those related to the Catholic Church entities payment and fundraising obligations". 

The brief include the following sections:  
I. INTRODUCTION
II. ISSUES
III. ANALYSIS
IV. CONCLUSION
V. INDEX TO TABS