The public and media outlets will have to wait until next week to find out whether a television camera will be allowed in the courtroom when the verdict is handed down in the Travis Vader murder case.

On Tuesday afternoon, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Denny Thomas heard arguments from the lawyer representing the CBC and other Edmonton media outlets, and from the Crown and Vader's defence lawyer.

"A camera in the courtroom is not unique," media lawyer Fred Kozak told the court. "It's been allowed in British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario."  

But a camera has never been allowed in an Alberta court to broadcast any portion of a criminal trial. Kozak said the only two successful Alberta applications he's aware of were to televise proceedings were in 1987 for the year-long Code Inquiry and in 1999 for the fatality inquiry into the death of Connie Jacobs, a Tsuu T'ina First Nation mother who was gunned down by RCMP.

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 Two applications in 35 years in Alberta "haven't led to a floodgate situation," Kozak said. "The sky hasn't fallen."

An application has never been made before in Alberta to live-stream a judge's decision. But a similar application was made successfully by the media two years ago in Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench.

On Tuesday, Kozak said the onus in this case was on Crown Prosecutor Ashley Finlayson to convince the judge that allowing a camera into the courtroom to broadcast the verdict would create "a serious risk" to the administration of justice.

The Crown opposed the media application. Finlayson argued cameras would pose a risk to the proper administration of justice. He suggested it could frighten witnesses and keep them from testifying, negatively affect courtroom decorum and might impact the willingness of lawyers to take on difficult cases.  

"Certainly this one occurrence doesn't mean that's going to happen," Finlayson said. "But that's part of the Crown's concern, that it is getting the foot in the door and the floodgates."

Vader's lawyer thinks cameras in Canadian courts inevitable

Vader was in court for the first few minutes of the proceeding, but asked to be excused so he could return to the Edmonton Remand Centre.

"We think it's in Mr. Vader's interest, in the public interest, to watch the final decision," defence lawyer Brian Beresh told the judge. "The rationale for the decision is extremely important. So the public can come to appreciate how the system works."  

Beresh predicted cameras will become common in Canadian courtrooms sooner or later.

"This floodgates argument is quite interesting," he told Thomas. "If there is going to be a floodgate, we have one person who controls it. The judge."

Outside court, Beresh compared the Canadian system to the one in the United States.

"Canada's behind what's happening," he said. "I think within the next five years, we'll have cameras regularly in courtrooms."

Thomas said he will issue a ruling on the media application on Sept. 13.

That decision will come two days before Vader learns his fate, on Sept. 15. 

Thomas said his draft decision on the Vader criminal trial is 131 pages long, single-spaced, and would take five hours to read aloud in its entirety.

The long-time judge said he plans to read a summary of his decision.

"It will be a real page-turner," he said.