Journalist object of government surveillance
(CCPJ/IFEX) – CCPJ has learned that a television journalist has received notice from government authorities that she has been the object of surveillance. Janice Johnston, a reporter with CFRN News in Edmonton (in the western Canadian province of Alberta), received a registered letter stating that she had been the object of an interception of private […]
Newspaper harassed by government office
(CCPJ/IFEX) – The CCPJ has learned that a weekly Quebec newspaper, “The Low Down to Hull and Back News” (“The News”), has been the victim of intimidation and pressure by a government agency. The English-language newspaper (circulation 2,300) is published in the town of Wakefield (in the southwestern part of the Canadian province of Quebec). […]
Landmark free speech judgment in consumer boycott case
(CCPJ/IFEX) – According to CCPJ, a General Court Judge has made an important ruling in a long-lasting free speech battle between a Japanese multinational forestry corporation and a small group of citizen activists. On 14 April 1998, Mr. Justice J. MacPherson released his decision in the Daishowa v. Friends of the Lubicon case, tossing out […]
Journalist threatened
(CCPJ/IFEX) – According to CCPJ, on the evening of 2 March 1998, Vancouver-based Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reporter Greg Rasmussen came home to find that his house had been broken into and vandalized. The break-in occurred on the same day that a special report on the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club aired on CBC radio. The […]
Police justify actions to quell demonstrations during APEC forum, admit to suppressing freedom of expression
(CCPJ/IFEX) – In a memo distributed during the first week of December 1997, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) justified its use of pepper spray on university students and other demonstrators on 25 November 1997, during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Vancouver. The RCMP memo also justifies officers’ actions in removing demonstrators’ signs. […]
Coroner’s jury makes recommendations regarding treatment of mentally ill individuals two years after murder of journalist Brian Smith
(CCPJ/IFEX) – A coroner’s jury looking into the August 1995 fatal shooting of popular television personality Brian Smith has come out with 72 recommendations aiming at a major overhaul in the laws and programs dealing with the mentally ill. **Updates IFEX alert dated 3 August 1995** The inquest was called to examine possible changes to […]
Indonesian government threatens Indonesians against taking part in protests during APEC Summit
(ISAI/IFEX) – Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas said in Jakarta on 17 November 1997 that his government would take action against any Indonesians seen protesting against President Suharto during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vancouver, Canada, which took place on 24 to 25 November. “If they are Indonesian nationals, yes, we will […]
Minister responds regarding Kenyan journalist Mary Kipruto
**Updates IFEX CH alert 6 December 1994** The Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists has received a reply from the office of the Honourable Sergio Marchi, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, regarding the case of Mary Chelegat Kipruto, a Kenyan journalist and refugee claimant who faces deportation from Canada. Although the letter does not include specific […]
Journalist Joseph Couture threatened by police
The Canadian Committee to Protect Journalists (CCPJ) has been investigating allegations that the London Police may have attempted to impede the work of London, Ontario journalist Joseph Couture and other members of the media investigating the story behind the child pornography probe, Project Guardian. Couture has taped evidence by some of the young men he […]