Canada

A deeply troubling report reveals that Canada’s National Energy Board spent over $20,000 to hire a private investigation firm tasked with finding employees leaking information to the media.

They may be confused about fake news, but Canadians are pretty clear that “national security” is no excuse to force journalists to turn sources over.

A subsidiary of Canada’s Barrick Gold is once again embroiled in a free expression controversy. This time over threats to journalists who reported on mining issues.

By adopting the Journalistic Source Protection Act, the Canadian Senate has taken a strong stand for press freedom, and sent a clear message to the House of Commons that they must take action. Canada is one of the only industrialised countries in the world that lacks legislation for the protection of journalists’ sources.

The Liberal government’s decision to indefinitely delay reforms to strengthen the Access to Information Act should concern everyone who cares about transparency and democratic accountability in Canada.

The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that VICE News reporter Ben Makuch must hand over all communications between him and an ISIS fighter to the RCMP.

CJFE shares an opinion which has already been expressed in part by our allies at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. We believe that Motion 103 in its current form presents no inherent risk to free expression. Claims that it will prohibit religiously motivated critiques of Islam are simply false.

CJFE says charges against journalist Justin Brake could cause a chill in reporting on controversies over resource development projects and Indigenous-led protests.

It may be 2017, but covering an indigenous occupation over a hydroelectric plant can still get a journalist charged by police in Canada.

CJFE is disappointed by the federal government’s decision to reject changes made by the House of Commons Public Safety Committee to Bill C-22, an act to establish a National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians.

OpenMedia describes the CRTC decision as truly historic. It will be a game-changer for rural and underserved communities across Canada where Internet access is either unavailable or unaffordable, due to a digital divide keeping almost one in five Canadians offline.

CJFE is concerned that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) has backtracked on its promise to reveal to a Senate committee the agency’s history of spying on Canadian journalists and media workers.

When asked by agents of the United States Border Patrol to unlock his mobile devices, Mr. Ou refused, citing a responsibility to protect the confidentiality of his journalistic sources.

Police spying on journalists, judges going after reporters’ sources, draconian surveillance bills. Is one of world’s strongest democracies taking a surprising turn for the worse?

“Canada is a global haven for persecuted journalists; it can be a world leader in helping to end impunity,” says coalition urging Canada to support a campaign to appoint a Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the safety of journalists.

As part of an internal investigation into misdoing by officers, Montreal police obtained warrants for text and call tracking, and GPS monitoring to identify a journalist’s sources.