Freedom of Expression
Canada
PRINCIPLE 8 OF THE DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES ON FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION (The right of social communicators to keep sources, notes, and personal and professional files confidential)
25. The Office of the Special Rapporteur received information during 2004 on subpoenas of and proceedings brought against journalists which could have a detrimental effect on the right to keep sources of information, files, and personal notes confidential. As the Office of the Special Rapporteur has indicated: “The main foundation of the right to confidentiality is that within the scope of their work, and in order to provide the public with the information needed to satisfy the right to information, journalists are performing an important public service when collecting and disseminating information that would not be divulged were the confidentiality of sources not protected. This right to confidentiality involves providing legal guarantees to sources to ensure their anonymity and to avoid possible reprisals against them for divulging certain information to the press. Confidentiality, therefore, is essential to journalists' work, and to the role that society has conferred upon them to report on matters of public interest.”[1]
26. On January 21, 2004, the residence of Juliet O´Neill, of the daily Ottawa Citizen, was searched by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The search was pursuant to a judicial order and with the intent of discovering the governmental source who allegedly leaked information to O´Neill.[2] After the search, documentation was seized that included information on her contacts, including phone numbers, and her computer files were copied. The searches were said to have been carried out under the Security of Information Act, which prohibits the possession and dissemination of secret government information, for which the journalist and the newspaper could be subject to criminal charges.[3]
27. On December 1, 2004, Hamilton Spectator journalist Ken Peters was found guilty of contempt of court after refusing to reveal a confidential source for a publication on problems in a retirement home. Former local council member Henry Merling identified himself as the journalist’s source. On December 7, a sanction was imposed that entailed paying US$31,600. It was a civil matter, so it was decided not to bring criminal charges.[4]
[1] Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, press release of December 8, 2004.
[2] In 2003, O’Neill published reports on the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen of Syrian origin who had been deported to Syria by the U.S. authorities in 2002, where, according to Arar, he was tortured. According to O’Neill’s Article, the RCMP had identified links between Arar and the Al-Qaeda network.
[3] Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), www.cpj.org, January 22, 2004, “Canadá: CPJ condena allanamiento de policía a la oficina y residencia de una reportera del Ottawa Citizen,” and Ottawa Citizen of January 20, 2004, http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?i d=097e31a7-1ac2-4fdb-9daf-75b458fac7c7.
[4] Reporters without Borders, “Un journaliste condamné pour avoir protégé ses sources: Reporters sans frontières dénonce un dangereux precedent,” December 8, 2004.