Open letter: Media calls on Trudeau government to halt RCMP violations of press freedom | Ricochet – Ricochet Media

Hon. Marco MendicinoMinister of Public Safety

Dear Minister Mendicino,

As we write this letter, two Canadian journalists are being held by police under your jurisdictionfor doing their jobs.

This moment demands your involvement to immediately release journalists Amber Bracken andMichael Toledano, and to bring about a swift resolution respecting journalists fundamentalrights. The national police force has repeatedly acted well beyond the law when dealing withmembers of the media, in defiance of court rulings. We ask you to exercise your oversightresponsibility to correct these serious violations forthwith.

As you are aware, Amber Bracken and Michael Toledano were illegally arrested on Nov. 19while reporting on the construction of a contentious natural gas pipeline in Wetsuweten territory in northern British Columbia. They were within the court injunction area which court decision after court decision has affirmed journalists right to access when the RCMP took them into custody and confiscated their belongings and equipment.

The national police force has repeatedly acted well beyond the law when dealing with members of the media, in defiance of court rulings.

The RCMP stated the reason for arresting the two was because they had embedded with theprotestors, which has never been illegal in Canada. Newfoundland and Labrador SupremeCourt Justice Derek Green affirmed these rights when he found in favour of journalist JustinBrake who faced criminal and civil charges after spending several days inside the Muskrat Fallssite covering a protest that shut work down at the dam in 2016. The civil charges weredismissed in 2019 by Justice Green. The criminal charges, too, were subsequently dropped.

Both Bracken and Toledano are journalists that have spent considerable time reporting on theland disputes associated with the construction of the Coastal GasLink project. Last year,Bracken was one of three journalists awarded with the CAJs Charles Bury Award for heroutstanding contributions to journalism reporting on the Wetsuweten crisis for The Narwhal.Bracken was specifically selected for the award for protecting the publics right to see eventsunfolding at Wetsuweten despite threats of arrest in 2020. Toledano has been living in the Wetsuweten territory for the past three years as a member of the media to create adocumentary called Yintah, which will air on national television in 2022.

The arrests of Bracken and Toledano are just the latest instances of Canadian police detainingjournalists who are simply trying to do their jobs. This past Thursday, the RCMP detainedindependent filmmaker Melissa Cox, who was later released without charges. This incidentmarks the second time Cox has been detained while covering a land dispute related to theWetsuweten territory. Previous charges of mischief and trespass were thrown out of court lastsummer. In addition to Cox, law enforcement also arrested Indigenous journalist and podcasthost Karl Dockstader who was covering a land dispute in Ontario. Those charges were laterwithdrawn.

At Fairy Creek, journalists were also repeatedly threatened and detained by RCMP officers. Thesituation became so egregious that, in August, the CAJ and a coalition of media intervened inthe issuance of an injunction, asking the courts to remind law enforcement of the rights ofMedia.

In two scathing written rulings, B.C. Supreme Courts Justice Douglas Thompson determinedthat the vast exclusion zones, affiliated checkpoints, and media restrictions set up by RCMPofficers at the injunction area are unlawful and seriously and substantially impacted important liberties. Justice Thompson ultimately refused to extend the injunction when he issued his second decision in September, stating the way the RCMP continued to violate charter rights when enforcing the injunction was causing a depreciation of the courts reputation.

As Canada and its democratic and civic institutions contend with and promise to redress their roles in the oppression and dispossession of Indigenous people on their land, journalists have a unique and express duty to bear witness to and comprehensively cover news events of consequence.

With 29 arrests over a two-day span, the decision to detain the press along with protestorsrepresents a move by the RCMP to prevent the public from being informed about what ishappening on the ground, during a standoff, which just recently, has included an RCMP vehiclestriking an elder, the use of canines to effectuate arrests, and the continuous implementation ofexcessive exclusion zones.

It is crucial to acknowledge the context in which these detentions, of everyone from landdefenders to media workers, are taking place. As Canada and its democratic and civicinstitutions contend with and promise to redress their roles in the oppression and dispossessionof Indigenous people on their land, journalists have a unique and express duty to bear witnessto and comprehensively cover news events of consequence. Federal agencies should see it ineveryones collective democratic interest to not unlawfully impede residents access toinformation of great public concern.

The story Bracken and Toledano are there to cover is not about press freedom. As the charterexpressly guarantees anyone in Canada, including but not exclusively the press, the right offreedom of expression, their legally enshrined rights of access need be honoured so they, andall other media workers, can do the job of covering the story, and not becoming the story.

The RCMP must be held accountable for their repeated violations of the rights of media inCanada. As the minister responsible for their oversight, we demand that you take immediate steps to investigate and correct the RCMPs actions and to ensure that going forward,journalists right to report will be protected in this country.

We the undersigned (listed alphabetically),

CC:

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

The Honourable Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General,Province of British Columbia

Brenda Lucki, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

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Open letter: Media calls on Trudeau government to halt RCMP violations of press freedom | Ricochet - Ricochet Media