The high-profile inquest into the death of teen inmate Ashley Smith has been put off indefinitely after lawyers at the coroner’s office circulated a secret memo on the delay.

Dr. Bonita Porter was expected to rule on key legal issues argued in coroner’s court earlier this week so the inquest, entering its third week seriously behind schedule, could resume on Monday. Instead, the coroner cancelled next week’s proceedings with little explanation.

In a “confidential memo” to all lawyers who participated in the hearings, except two representing the media, Porter reportedly outlined her plan for dealing with motions on the public’s right to access documents and videos at the inquest.

She was also revisiting a motion on her decision not to obtain additional graphic prison videos depicting the 19-year-old Moncton woman’s treatment in federal custody. The recordings show Smith duct-taped to the seat of an airplane during a transfer between prisons and forcibly injected with tranquilizers while strapped to a metal gurney for half a day without food or water at Joliette Institution in Quebec.

Porter initially ruled the events on the tapes, which happened three months before Smith choked herself to death while on suicide watch at Grand Valley Institution in Kitchener, were not connected to her death. The Smith family challenged the decision in Divisional Court and won.

A vague, three-sentence public statement issued by the province said Porter needed more time to mull over her decisions.

The contents of the secret memo, meanwhile, sparked a firestorm of emails and phone calls between lawyers and the coroner’s office on Friday.

“I am not allowed to say how long the inquest will be delayed,” said Smith family lawyer Julian Falconer, who was copied on the secret memo.

Falconer objected to the use of secret memos “to communicate matters that should be a matter of public record” in a letter to the coroner on Friday.

Lawyer Paul Schabas, representing the Toronto Star, said he was astonished and troubled by the latest developments.

“We went to court to remind it that everything it does is supposed to be public,” Schabas said. “An important public inquest has been suddenly adjourned, and we don’t know why, or for how long . . . Something seems to be very wrong here.”

After the Star sent numerous emails to the coroner’s office requesting a copy of the secret memo or at the very least some clarification on the delay, lawyer Eric Siebenmorgen said jurors have been told their “attendance will not be required next week.”

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

He said jurors will be advised of a “target date” for the inquest to resume on Monday.

In two weeks, the inquest has heard evidence from only one witness — a former manager at Grand Valley. More than a dozen lawyers representing various groups, individuals and agencies with standing at the inquest have yet to cross-examine the prison worker.