Court File No.

ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE

(Toronto Region)

IN THE MATTER OF an application brought by the Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and others for an order terminating or varying the order of Justice S.E. Marin of the Ontario Court of Justice rendered on May 31 , 2013 , sealing documents relating to search warrants, including the information or informations to obtain the warrants relating to search warrants at various locations and addresses in the City ofToronto to be executed between May 31 , 2013 and June 14, 2013.

TORONTO STAR NEWSPAPERS LIMITED, THE GLOBE AND MAIL INC., CTV, A DIVISION OF BELL MEDIA INC., CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, SHAW TELEVISION LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, POSTMEDIA INC., SUN MEDIA CORPORATION and CANADIAN PRESS ENTERPRISES INC.
Applicants and

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF ONTARIO

Respondent

AFFIDAVIT OF GAVIN HORNER

I, Gavin Homer, a peace officer, of the City of Toronto, in the Province of Ontario, make oath and say:

1. I am a police officer employed by the Toronto Police Service and have been so employed since January of 1988. At present, I hold the rank of Detective and am assigned to the Major Project Section at the Organized Crime Enforcement Unit. In my 25 years of service, I have spent over 15 years in the investigative field. During my investigative tenure, I have been responsible for a number of lengthy investigations that have involved a variety of investigative techniques.

2. I am one of the lead investigators assigned to Project "Traveller". During my investigations into this matter, I have read police reports, occurrences, statements of witnesses and police officers, made inquiries through police computer data banks and conducted, or caused to be conducted, various investigative techniques including physical surveillance relative to the investigations as deemed necessary. 3. Project Traveller is a lengthy investigation by the Toronto Police Service Organized Crime Enforcement Unit - Major Project Section into an alleged criminal organization called, among other things, the Dixon City Bloods. It is alleged that this criminal organization was operating in the northwest area of the City of Toronto, particularly in six high-rise apartment buildings on Dixon Road and the surrounding area and also in the City of Windsor. 4. On Thursday, June 13th, 2013 , after an investigation which lasted approximately one year, the Toronto Police Service, with the assistance of several other police services executed a number of search warrants and, to date, approximately 48 individuals have been arrested in the cities of Toronto and Windsor and the province of Alberta. There are still a number of arrests to be made. 5. The officer who swore to the information to obtain the search warrants applied for and was granted an order to seal the search warrants and the information to obtain pursuant to section 487.3 of the Criminal Code by order of the authorizing judge. 6. This affidavit was initially drafted in response to an application by the Toronto Star Newspaper to unseal the information to obtain the search warrants which were executed at various locations as part of Project Traveller. On June 26th, 2013, just as this affidavit was being completed, the Crown was served with a further and similar application on behalf of the Globe and Mail, CTV, CBC, Shaw Television, Postmedia, Sun Media and Canadian Press. I am therefore dealing with both applications in this affidavit.
7. I was present on June 17th, 2013, at the first appearance in court on the original

application by the Toronto Star Newspaper. At that time, the application was adjourned to July 2nd, 2013 at the Ontario Court of Justice courthouse at 1911 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto at which time the Crown is to provide the court with its position in regard to the application. The application which was received on June 26th, 2013 from the other members of the media noted in paragraph 6 above is also returnable on July 2nd, 2013 at the same courthouse. 8. I have discussed this application with Mr. G. Paul Renwick, the Prosecution Lead on Project Traveller and he has advised me and I verily believe that the position of the Crown is that it would be contrary to the administration of justice to grant the order being sought at this time for the following reasons:

a. The charges which have been laid and which are to be laid are being prosecuted by members of the Guns and Gangs Initiative of the Ministry of the Attorney General. The information to obtain the search warrants which the media are seeking to unseal has not yet been vetted by the Crown. Given the nature of the investigation and the information contained in the information to obtain and based upon past experience of prosecutors in the Guns and Gangs Initiative who have acted on projects of this type and based upon my own personal experience in these types of projects, it regularly takes in the range of six to nine months for this type of vetting to occur. This results from a number of factors, including obtaining unsealing orders and receiving copies for the purpose of vetting, the length and size of the investigation, the number and length of informations to obtain and affidavits, the number of accused persons and privilege issues which must be considered before disclosure to the accused and their counsel can occur. b. I am advised by Mr. Renwick and verily believe that the Crown's position is that the searches which were conducted pursuant to judicially authorized search warrants impact upon a number of individuals, many of whom have now been charged with various offences under the Criminal Code. The Crown' s position is that the privacy interests and fair trial rights of the various accused pursuant to section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms may be impacted by public disclosure of the information to obtain the search warrants at this time and therefore the accused have a right to participate in the hearing of this application. To my knowledge, the accused have not received notice of these applications. c. Most ofthe accused are or will be scheduled to appear in court on July 11th, 2013 at which time notice of these applications can be given to them. A date for the return of this application which is convenient to counsel for all or at least most of the accused can then be scheduled. d. I am further advised by Mr. Renwick and verily believe, that the Crown is not, in principle, opposed to the unsealing and public release of the information to obtain the noted search warrants, however, such public release can and should only occur after the information to obtain has been appropriately vetted by the Crown and the accused have been provided with disclosures of the vetted copies and it has been determined that the public release of these documents will not adversely affect the prosecution or defence of the accused people before the court. 9. The search warrants which were executed on June 13t\ 2013 were not the only ones issued and the informations to obtain these search warrants are not the only ones which need to be reviewed and edited, if necessary, by the Crown. It is my understanding that the following have been issued by various courts and judicial officers: a. Two authorizations to intercept private communications. The affidavits which were prepared in support of these authorizations total in excess of 11 00 pages in addition to approximately 25 appendices; and

b. Over 40 warrants and orders including, production orders, dialled number recorder warrants, cell phone examination search warrants, access to youth records applications, residential search warrants, vehicle search warrants and authorizations to enter a dwelling (Feeney warrant) have been obtained, all of which required informations to obtain which were filed with various courts and sealed. I 0. Before any of these affidavits or informations to obtain can be disclosed to the accused and, therefore, to the public, they have to be reviewed by a member or members of the prosecution team for the purpose of editing in order to protect various forms of privileged information.. From my experience, this often includes several meetings between the Crown and the affiant, all officers involved in handling confidential informants and other investigating officers in order to ensure that the police and the Crown strictly observe their legal, ethical and moral obligations to protect the identities of confidential informants, the privacy interests of uninvolved third parties and other information that may be protected by a public interest privilege. 11 . I have been advised by Mr. Renwick and verily believe that the Crown' s position is that it would not be appropriate to edit only one document, such as the information to obtain the take down day search warrants which are at issue in this case without having first reviewed and considered the other informations to obtain and affidavits which were prepared during the project. The contents of each of these documents may very well have an impact on the contents of subsequent documents in considering what should or should not be vetted. 12. It is therefore my view that these applications should be adjourned for a period of at least six months at which time the Crown will be able to report to the Court its progress in the vetting process, hopefully with an anticipated date upon which disclosure of the vetted document at issue in this application will be expected to be made to the accused. I make this affidavit for no improper purpose and in response to the applications by the Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and other media.

SWORN before me at the City of Toronto, in the Province of Ontario, this 2ih day of June, 2013

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l ~:si5!!!!!~
) Gavin Homer
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A Commissioner for Oaths, etc.

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ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE (Toronto Region)

TORONTO STAR NEWSPAPERS LIMITED

and

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN IN RIGHT OF ONTARIO

AFFIDAVIT OF GAVIN HORNER

G. Paul Renwick & Jeffrey A. Levy Assistant Crown Attorneys Guns and Gangs Initiative 361 University Avenue, Room 101 Toronto, Ontario MSG 1Y1 Tel: Fax:
416-498-5400 416-488-3275