Canada

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Michel Sarrazin, director of police services of the Montreal Urban Community, RSF protested the detention and legal action initiated against freelance photographers Valérie Remise and Andrew Dobrowolskyj, and Yves Schaëffner of the Montreal weekly “Ici”. Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, expressed his “surprise” that such an incident could take […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is an IFJ press release: Media Release May 5th 2000 IFJ Condemns New Calgary Lock-Out and Police Assault on Media Protesters The International Federation of Journalists, the world’s largest journalists’ group, today condemned the widening of the bitter Calgary Herald dispute by newspaper mogul Conrad Black whose local management locked out […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – Murray Hiebert, the “Far Eastern Economic Review” (FEER) correspondent imprisoned in Kuala Lumpur on 11 September 1999, was released on the morning of 11 October, according to a spokesman for Dow Jones, which publishes the magazine. **Updates IFEX alerts of 14 September, 13 September and 19 May 1999, 3 October and 5 September […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is outraged by the Malaysian Court of Appeal’s decision to imprison “Far Eastern Economic Review” correspondent Murray Hiebert for contempt of court. Hiebert’s sentencing makes Malaysia the only Commonwealth country to have imprisoned a journalist on contempt charges in half a century, according to his lawyers. **Updates IFEX alerts of 13 September […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 11 September 1999 CPJ news release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 19 May 1999, 3 October and 5 September 1997** JAILING OF REPORTER IN MALAYSIA DEPLORABLE CPJ Condemns Sentence Handed Down Against Murray Hiebert BANGKOK, September 11 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) deplores today’s decision by the Malaysian […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – The following is an open letter by the Comité québécois pour la liberté de presse (Quebec Committee for Press freedom) addressed to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Premier Lucien Bouchard asking them to present a resolution in favour of press freedom at the Francophone Summit: The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien Prime Minister of […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – After interviewing more than two hundred individuals in the course of their investigation of the murder of publisher and editor Tara Singh Hayer, police are suggesting that the shooting was motivated by an editorial which appeared in Hayer’s newspaper, the “Indo-Canadian Times”, rather than a political or religious dispute. **Updates IFEX alerts of […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – A letter bomb exploded at Edmonton’s A-Channel Television station on the morning of 16 June 1999, injuring Assignment Editor Garnet Lewis and reporter Stacey Brotzel, according to news reports. According to the “Globe and Mail” newspaper, the device arrived at A Channel’s newsroom with the rest of the day’s mail. It arrived in […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – On 17 May 1999, the Malaysian Court of Appeals began hearing the appeal of the convictions against Canadian journalist Murray Hiebert. The judges hearing the case are Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Lamin Yunus, Datuk Ahmad Rairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim and Denis Ong. Hiebert’s bail has been set at RM250,000 (approx. US$65,790). […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – The following is a CJFE letter to British Columbia’s Attorney General expressing concern over death threats received by Kim Bolan, a journalist with the “Vancouver Sun” daily newspaper: **New case and update to IFEX alert of 19 November 1998** March 12, 1999 Ujjal Dosanjh Attorney General of British Colombia PO 9044 Station Provincial […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – The following is a joint CJFE – Amnesty International Canada letter to Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy: **Updates IFEX alerts of 11 March and 2 March 1999** The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy Minister of Foreign Affairs House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6 Fax: + 613-996-3443 12 March 1999 Dear Minister Axworthy, Both Canadian […]

(IFJ/IFEX) – The following is a 26 February IFJ press release: Media Release February 26th 1999 IFJ backs strike over jobs, pay and the future of public broadcasting IFJ today called on journalists’ unions in 100 countries to back a major strike in Canada which is at the heart of a struggle to protect public […]

(CCPJ/IFEX) – Canadian Press reports that newspaper publisher Tara Singh Hayer was shot to death in the garage of his suburban Vancouver home on the evening of 18 November 1998. Hayer, who published the “Indo-Canadian Times”, Canada’s largest and oldest Punjabi weekly, was an outspoken critic of violent Sikh fundamentalists and had already been the […]

(HRW/IFEX) – On 4 October 1998, Human Rights Watch welcomed the Canadian government’s recent announcement affirming the freedom of Canadians to develop, import and use whatever cryptography products they choose. Minister of Industry John Manley announced the policy last week as pressure to expand controls on encryption technologies continues to build. “This move recognises Canadian […]

(CCPJ/IFEX) – The role of Canada’s Prime Minister Jean Chrétien is being questioned in a violent clampdown on protesters at last November’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Vancouver, British Columbia. Protesters were arrested and pepper-sprayed by officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), mostly for protesting against Indonesian dictator Suharto, who was attending […]

(CCPJ/IFEX) – The CCPJ has learned that two more journalists have been the target of a police wiretap investigation, one week after it was revealed that the telephone conversations of a third journalist had been monitored. **For background to phone tapping of the third Canadian journalist, see IFEX alert dated 11 June 1998** On 15 […]