It was revealed this week that at least seven journalists in Quebec, working for Radio-Canada, La Presse and La Journal de Montréal, have been spied on by the Montreal police (SPVM) and Quebec provincial police (SQ). Further revelations have shown journalists to have been under surveillance since 2008, some for as long as five years at a time. Some were cases of « pen register » surveillance, tracking incoming and out-going calls. Others included GPS surveillance, tracking an individual’s physical location.

The majority of these journalists are known for scrutinizing the activities of police authorities and for their work on corruption. All had their cellphone activities monitored in a way that would reveal who they spoke to when as well as their movements around Quebec and anywhere else in the world. This level of surveillance of journalists in Canada is unprecedented and gravely threatens the ability of the press to serve its function as a watchdog of the state as well as the general preservation of our right to freedom of expression.

These latest revelations do not exist in a vacuum and should be seen in the context of other recent threats to journalists in Canada as well as on-going efforts by our police forces and intelligence agencies to gain broader domestic surveillance powers. These incidents are clear examples of efforts to intimidate journalists working to hold state power accountable. Here are some key points in a developing story :

• Journalists in Quebec and the rest of Canada have been surveilled and intimidated by multiple police forces since at least 2008. Eight years!
• This week, it was revealed that Patrick Lagacé, journalist for La Presse, was targeted for surveillance by the Montreal police (SPVM) from January-July 2016. His phone records were captured as were his physical movements via his cellphone’s GPS chip.
• After the Lagacé revelations, three Radio-Canada journalists, Alain Gravel, Isabelle Richer and Marie-Maude Denis, announced they had been targeted for surveillance in 2013 while reporting on the Charbonneau commission investigating corruption and connections between political parties, industry and organized crime.
• In June 2016, Michael Nguyen, a journalist at Le Journal de Montreal, filed a story describing a judge’s abusive behaviour towards police officers at a 2015 Christmas party. His reportage included surveillance video of the incident. On 21 September 2016, the offices of Le Journal de Montreal were raided and Nguyen’s computer was confiscated in order to determine how Nguyen came to be in possession of material related to the event. He has been charged with no crime.
• Most recently, the Sûrete du Québec (SQ) revealed that it had tracked all phone calls of Radio-Canada journalists noted above, Alain Gravel, Isabelle Richer and Marie-Maude Denis, from 1 November 2008 – 1 October 2013. Their investigative program Enquête reported regularly on corruption in the Quebec construction industry and Quebec politics.
• Finally, the Montreal police announced on 3 November 2016 they surveilled an unnamed journalist in 2014, also in the context of an investigation of a police officer.
• In a different context, and outside of Quebec, Vice News published in 2014, a series of stories based on online conversations with a Canadian citizen whom the Canadian government – in 2015 – declared a terrorist. In March 2016, Vice News was ordered to surrender all communications with this person – their journalistic source – to the RCMP. Vice continues to fight this court order and a number of media and rights recently won the right to intervene in the court case.None of these journalists has been charged with a crime. The fact that they have been targeted with surveillance is a clear attempt to intimidate both journalists and their current and potential sources.
• Canada’s Prime Minister has assured the public that no journalists have been surveilled by the RCMP, our federal police and intelligence services, or CSIS (and presumably CSEC), our foreign intelligence services. This contradicts recent revelations of RCMP surveillance of Radio-Canada journalists in 2007. Reporting with the support of the Snowden documents, CBC has shown that has CSEC spied on the WiFi of Canadian travelers in airports.
• This situation has been, in part, been made possible by a lack of transparency and leadership on the part of the federal government. Our national police (the RCMP), our domestic intelligence agency (CSIS) and our foreign intelligence service (CSEC) are under the direction of the Minister of Public Safety, not Parliament. Lack of full and transparent oversight creates a model for abuse that can be replicated at the provincial level. For instance, the RCMP has been shown to have conducted mass surveillance on Canadians’ cellphones for a decade.
• Canada lags behind many other countries in terms of whistleblower laws for the public and private sectors. Canadian federal law does not provide any absolute protection for journalist’s anonymous sources.
• Canada’s federal government is currently conducting a consultation on the future of our Anti-Terrorism Act, also known as Bill C-51. The House of Commons Standing Committee in Public Safety is accepting submissions until 18 November 2016.
• Public Safety Canada is conducting an online consultation on National Security and is accepting submissions until 1 December 2016.
• The Quebec government has stated it will create a public commission to look at these issues and make legal recommendations.
• For the journalists and aspiring journalists out there, it seems that the Fédération professionelle des journalists du Québec had to cancel a security training for journalists in October due to lack of interest. Secure communication has become a tool of the trade.  Organizations such as the FPJQ and the Freedom of the Press Foundation offer trainings.
  

Published by

Evan Light

Associate professor / Professeur agrégé Communications Program / Programme de communications Glendon College, York University / Collège universitaire Glendon, Université York