For the second time in two months, a journalist reporting on matters related to the justice system has found his own rights egregiously compromised. These affronts to freedom of the press are deeply troubling.
Starting last January, Montreal police spied on La Presse columnist Patrick Lagacé through his cellphone, obtaining his call records and tracking his movements, as part of what police said was an internal probe of anti-gang squad officers later charged with fabricating evidence.
This is an outrageous violation of Lagacé’s privacy and an attack on his role as a journalist in a democratic society. He was never a target of the probe nor suspected of any wrongdoing. And he was never even given an opportunity to safeguard his contacts from police scrutiny.
In September, Journal de Montréal reporter Michaël Nguyen had his computer seized by the Sûreté du Québec after reporting on two judges under investigation by the Conseil de la magistrature.
Nguyen’s computer was put under seal, allowing Le Journal to fight the seizure. Nguyen was targeted because he had obtained information on disciplinary proceedings that had not been made public, including a video of a judge haranguing courthouse security guards. But La Presse later revealed that the supposedly secure confidential documents Nguyen was accused of stealing were readily available on the Conseil de la magistrature website.
Such interference by law enforcement in the essential work of the media is rare, if not unprecedented. Such intrusions could seriously harm the ability of journalists to cultivate confidential sources.
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Police must be held to account for these heavy-handed tactics. But the judges and justices of the peace who signed off the police warrants have much to answer for, too.
The judiciary is supposed to be a check on police overreaching. There are a series of legal tests, set out by the Supreme Court of Canada, that must be met before judges override journalists’ constitutional rights. Though the high court has stopped short of offering blanket protection to journalists shielding their sources, it has nevertheless recognized the importance of a free press to a healthy democracy.
Investigative reporting, from exposing the sponsorship scandal to unearthing corruption, has repeatedly proven its worth in Quebec, as elsewhere. The work of journalists has resulted in criminal charges, forced elected officials to resign and prompted commissions of inquiry. All of this is done in the public interest.
When the police and the judiciary undermine journalists trying to get at the truth, they transgress the people’s right to know.
The Montreal Gazette joins its voice to the chorus vigorously denouncing these intolerable attacks on the free press.
