(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 21 January 2004 PEN Canada media release: STATEMENT ON RAIDS ON OTTAWA CITIZEN/JULIET O’NEILL PEN Canada condemns as outrageous the raids today conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the offices of the Ottawa Citizen and the home of reporter Juliet O’Neill. “The ability of a reporter […]
(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a 21 January 2004 PEN Canada media release:
STATEMENT ON RAIDS ON OTTAWA CITIZEN/JULIET O’NEILL
PEN Canada condemns as outrageous the raids today conducted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the offices of the Ottawa Citizen and the home of reporter Juliet O’Neill.
“The ability of a reporter to protect his or her sources is at the core of a free and democratic society,” said Chris Waddell, Chair of PEN Canada’s National Affairs Committee.
“This action by the police must be reversed and all material taken must be immediately returned untouched to the newspaper and Ms O’Neill. The federal government must state clearly that it does not condone or sanction such intimidation tactics, apologize to Ms O’Neill and the Citizen and state clearly this will not happen again. Anything short of this is unacceptable.”
This raid – including the early morning one by 10 police officers at Ms O’Neill’s home – amounts to nothing more than blatant intimidation of journalists and news organizations in this country by the police and federal government authorities, states PEN Canada.
“It’s a fishing expedition designed to turn up Ms. O’Neill’s sources because the stories she has written on the federal government’s role in the Maher Arar case have been deeply embarrassing to the federal government,” added Waddell.
“Clearly the police are acting as agents to discover the identity of people who spoke to Ms O’Neill in researching her stories on the Arar case, so they can be rounded up and punished.”
In the process, the possibility exists, as a result of legislation that restricts free expression hastily passed by Parliament in the aftermath of September 11, that Ms O’Neill and perhaps the newspaper could also be charged.
PEN Canada insists that journalists must be free to practise their craft without fear they will be arrested or searched by the state for providing the public with information that may embarrass the government of the day.
Without the assurance that journalists have the right to protect their sources, people with information that could embarrass powerful interests or reveal bungling or wrongdoing will hesitate to pass on that material, denying Canadians information they should have.
Today’s raids are eerily similar to the intimidation tactics used by Ontario government and police against author Stephen Williams in similar surprise raids on his home and confiscation of documents, the prime purpose of which is to determine the sources for stories he has written that are embarrassing to police and administration of justice officials in Ontario.
All Canadians should be deeply concerned about the actions of the police and the federal government in this case and should speak out against them in the strongest language possible as an attack on freedom of expression.
