Radio-Canada journalists said that they too had their mobile phones tracked by police, adding to the scandal over surveillance and press freedom.

Radio-Canada journalists said that they too had their mobile phones tracked by police, adding to the scandal over surveillance and press freedom.
Photo Credit: Radio-Canada

Police spying on journalists a ‘radical attack on free press’

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The outrage over news that police in Quebec province have gathered information from several journalists’ cell phones has grown to the point that the provincial government has mandated a public inquiry. Speaking to an overflow audience of McGill students via video link last evening, U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden called the police action “a radical attack on the operations of the free press.”

Edward Snowden told an overflow crowd of McGill students police action against journalists represents a threat to democracy.
Edward Snowden told an overflow crowd of McGill students police action against journalists represents a threat to democracy. © Cecilia MacArthur/CBC

“Speaking as one of the directors of The Freedom of the Press Foundation this unsettles me not only on a personal level, but I think (it) is something that represents a threat to the traditional model of our democracy,” said Snowden.

Six more journalists monitored

News broke on November 1st, that Montreal police obtained warrants to monitor the smartphone of newspaper journalist Patrick Lagacé to discover who he had contact with and where he went. Lagacé believes the goal was to stop sources within the police department from leaking information to him.

Six more journalists subsequently said their phones were monitored by provincial police. Marie-Maude Denis, an investigative reporter at the public broadcaster, Radio-Canada, was among them. She told CBC such activity undermines the work of journalists.

Radio-Canada journalist Marie-Maude Denis called the police surveillance ‘very, very frightening.’
Radio-Canada journalist Marie-Maude Denis called the police surveillance ‘very, very frightening.’ © Radio-Canada

Revelations ‘very, very frightening’

“If the confidential sources in the police or elsewhere think that they might be identified by a third party…that’s where people stop talking to journalists. Journalists stop making investigative journalism that brought huge and necessary stories out in the past which cleaned up a lot of the air in Quebec. And that’s what is very, very frightening.”

Snowden told students Montreal’s chief of police should have resigned over his force’s spying on Lagacé.

‘Law beginning to fail’

Police were able to obtain warrants to monitor the journalists’ phones. Snowden says technology has given them unprecedented ability to gather massive amounts of information. Surveillance technologies, he says, have outpaced democratic controls.

“Law is beginning to fail as a guarantor of our rights. It is the lowest bar protecting the way we operate and interact with one another because government has built in so many mechanisms to get around…these restrictions when it wants to, that now the local police can decide that they don’t like a journalist’s reporting, they can go to a justice of the peace and the justice of peace will quite happily say ‘okay, that sounds great. Look at the GPS on his phone, figure out everywhere he’s travelling, figure out everyone he’s communicating with. No you can’t read his emails, you can’t listen to his calls but you can find out everyone he met with, who he called, how long he was on the call with (them)’ and from this derive an extraordinary understanding of how this individual works. And it wasn’t just one…we’re hearing it’s six, possibly more.”

Justin Tang/Canadian Press
Justin Tang/Canadian Press © Justin Tang/Canadian Press

‘Canada…has weakest intelligence oversight’

Snowden decried two Canadian laws, C-13 and C-51, which give police and security forces the ability to monitor electronic devices. He pointed out that while campaigning for office, Justin Trudeau promised he would create oversight bodies to ensure their application did not erode human rights and, now that he is prime minister, Trudeau has not kept that promise.

“Canada actually has the weakest intelligence oversight out of any major western country …No one is really watching.”

Snowden said oversight bodies must be created and they must have the authority to prosecute any illegal actions by security agencies. “The only thing that will ensure they play fairly is the threat of criminal sanctions.”

A huge line formed across the McGill campus hours before U.S. whistle blower Edward Snowden was to speak via video link.
A huge line formed across the McGill campus hours before U.S. whistle blower Edward Snowden was to speak via video link. © Neil Edelman

‘We cannot rely on others’

The news of police spying on journalists may have accounted for the huge number of students who lined up for hours to hear Snowden. The former CIA employee and U.S. security contractor was speaking from Moscow. He took refuge there in 2013 after having leaked a trove of documents to journalists that revealed massive surveillance by intelligence agencies in the U.S., Canada and other countries.

His message to students inquiring about the U.S. presidential race was to not put their hopes on any one political figure because they rarely keep their promises. He said “The ultimate answer to democracy here is that we cannot rely on others to do the things that we must do for ourselves. Ultimately, if you want a better country, you’re going to have to do it yourself.”

Snowden began and ended to thunderous applause.

Hear Edward Snowden’s address to McGill students on November 2, 2016 from YouTube.

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