Highlights:
QUOTE
Federal officials have quoted a questionable source in bids to kick foreigners out of Canada – Wikipedia. And judges are not amused.
“Wikipedia is an internet Encyclopedia which anyone with Internet access can edit,†wrote one exasperated Federal Court judge, criticizing Ottawa’s filings in a case to remove a family of Turkish asylum seekers.
“It is an open-source reference with no editorial control,†scoffed another judge, as he took federal agents to task for consulting Wikipedia before sending an immigrant back to Iran.
As it happens, magistrates often fight the encroachment of dubious encyclopedia entries into courts. After all, many undergrads would be flunked if they quoted Wikipedia in term papers, so why would bureaucrats let such an impeachable source slide into submissions?
Officials say that while federal agencies “discourage†use of Wikipedia as a reference resource, they don’t outright prohibit it. That means, in rare cases, the articles end up in court filings.
This is proving controversial, especially in immigration cases.
“Wikipedia is an internet Encyclopedia which anyone with Internet access can edit,†wrote one exasperated Federal Court judge, criticizing Ottawa’s filings in a case to remove a family of Turkish asylum seekers.
“It is an open-source reference with no editorial control,†scoffed another judge, as he took federal agents to task for consulting Wikipedia before sending an immigrant back to Iran.
As it happens, magistrates often fight the encroachment of dubious encyclopedia entries into courts. After all, many undergrads would be flunked if they quoted Wikipedia in term papers, so why would bureaucrats let such an impeachable source slide into submissions?
Officials say that while federal agencies “discourage†use of Wikipedia as a reference resource, they don’t outright prohibit it. That means, in rare cases, the articles end up in court filings.
This is proving controversial, especially in immigration cases.
QUOTE
“Wikipedia is specifically discouraged as a reference in decision making, unless it is supported by information from a credible, reliable source,†Karen Shadd, a federal spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mailed response to questions from The Globe and Mail. Federal screening agents, she added, get training “on assessing Internet sources.â€
Maybe more training is needed. Wikipedia-as-evidence is “an issue that’s arisen in a significant number of cases,†said Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman. His firm has rebutted government citations of Wikipedia articles on at least three occasions.
The issue surfaced in a decision just last month, after a McGill nuclear-science professor from Tehran was ordered to keep out of Canada. Agents – citing Wikipedia, among other sources – alleged ties between Iranian universities and the theocracy’s Revolutionary Guards.
That prompted Judge Yves de Montigny to chide: “This Court has more than once questioned the reliability of Wikipedia.†Finding several lapses, he ordered a new hearing.
Maybe more training is needed. Wikipedia-as-evidence is “an issue that’s arisen in a significant number of cases,†said Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman. His firm has rebutted government citations of Wikipedia articles on at least three occasions.
The issue surfaced in a decision just last month, after a McGill nuclear-science professor from Tehran was ordered to keep out of Canada. Agents – citing Wikipedia, among other sources – alleged ties between Iranian universities and the theocracy’s Revolutionary Guards.
That prompted Judge Yves de Montigny to chide: “This Court has more than once questioned the reliability of Wikipedia.†Finding several lapses, he ordered a new hearing.
