Canadian Senator Claude Carignan has introduced a private member’s bill to protect journalists and their sources. The senator says he did it after recently learning that Montreal police got warrants to monitor the communications and the movement of journalist Patrick Lagace.
The Quebec Provincial Police later acknowledged that they too were tracking other journalists. The government of the province of Quebec has called a public inquiry into the matter.
Giving journalists power to refuse
If passed, Carignan’s bill at the national level of government would amend the Canada Evidence Act so that a journalist could refuse police requests for information that would compromise a source’s anonymity.
It would also change the Criminal Code so that when it comes to journalists, only a high-court judge could issue the warrants that police must obtain before conducting searches. The judge would have to be convinced there was no other way the information could be obtained and that the public interest was more important than the journalist’s right to privacy.
A private member’s bill is one that is introduced by someone other than a cabinet minister. It has less chance of being passed, but may be adopted if it attracts majority support in both Houses of Parliament.
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