"What the police did to Juliet O'Neill was outrageous and should never happen again," said CAJ president Paul Schneidereit. "Authorities must ensure that the laws of the land cannot be used to stifle journalists who are merely doing their jobs, keeping the public informed about events and issues of importance and concern to all Canadians."
The CAJ has called for a review of all post-Sept. 11, 2001 legislation that appears to make it illegal for journalists to receive or report on confidential documents or information, while empowering the government to designate any information secret without an avenue for appeal.
Last week, the RCMP raided the home and office of O'Neill in search of leaked secret documents. O'Neill could still technically be charged under the Security Information Act for receiving the documents, which are related to the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen deported to Syria by U.S. authorities from New York while returning home after a family vacation abroad. Arar says he was tortured for the year he spent in a Syrian prison.
The RCMP raids ironically came just as the Ontario Superior Court of Justice last week emphatically defended the importance of journalists' confidential sources and the information they bring to light. "If the journalist-informant relationship is undermined, society as a whole is affected," Madame Justice Benotto wrote in a judgement that quashed a 2002 RCMP search warrant that sought leaked documents from the National Post. "To deprive the media of an important tool in the gathering of news would affect society as a whole. The relationship is one that should be fostered."
The CAJ has previously spoken out against security and access legislation that arbitrarily and unjustifiably increases government control of public information it holds, including Bill C-36, which was enacted in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S.A.
"Freedom of the press has been under police attack for too long in this country," said Schneidereit. "Whether it's the seizure of reporters' notes and tapes, police impersonation of journalists or draconian actions like last week's RCMP raids, for years police have acted as if journalists were proxy agents of the state, instead of fundamental protectors of the public's right to know in a democracy."
"The prime minister should use this review as an opportunity to concretely reaffirm his commitment to media freedom in Canada by calling on police everyone to cease and desist in these destructive activities," Schneidereit said. "Journalists' ability to do their jobs, and their very personal security, are being compromised by such wrong-headed police actions."
The Canadian Association of Journalists is a professional organization with more than 1,300 members across Canada. The CAJ's primary roles are to provide public interest advocacy and quality professional development for its members.
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/For further information:
Paul Schneidereit, president, (902) 426-1124;
Robert Cribb, past-president, (416) 869-4411;
John Dickins, executive director, (613) 526-8061, Cell: (613) 290-2903/
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