Feature photo caption: The Province is honouring the request of the Pacheedaht, Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht First Nations and deferring old-growth harvesting in the Fairy Creek watershed and central Walbran areas in their territories. (Province of BC / Flickr)
Heavy-handed RCMP tactics have put undemocratic restrictions on reporters
Journalists at Fairy Creek are facing such heavy interference from RCMP enforcement that they’re unable to report on the arrests happening there, said members of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) in a press conference on July 14.
Police can’t prevent journalists from visiting sites of arrests, nor should they be arresting them, says Ethan Cox, editor of Ricochet Media and speaker at the conference. Taking advantage of exclusion zones and using other methods of censorship are concerning to CAJ, who believe the RCMP also shouldn’t treat the media as an inconvenience to be managed.
The pro-Bono lawyer for CAJ has filed an application to bury the injunction the RCMP have issued at Fairy Creek, where land defenders are demonstrating to save flora and fauna and protect Indigenous rights. Their request is that the judge insert a clause that instructs the RCMP not to interfere with media access except for when there is a bona fide, operational reason to do so. The results will be shared publicly later this week, after the decision is made.
The injunction is open until September, giving CAJ plenty of time to challenge it and police restriction of journalists’ rights.
“We’ve seen this kind of stuff happening over and over again, and we’ve frankly had enough of it,” he says. “By being able to challenge this up front right now, there’s a real opportunity to affect some change on how this particular story is covered.”
This may be a “stop gap measure,” but it’s still important, says Cox. He hopes the judge rules to add the clause to the injunction, setting what he says could be a crucial precedent for maintaining press freedom in Canada.
The RCMP has claimed that they’re trying to keep journalists safe, but that’s not their responsibility, says Canadian Association of Journalists President Brent Jolly. Affidavits and documents on the CAJ website demonstrate the police’s intention to exclude journalists in “zones” or “areas” employed at democratic demonstrations across the country.
“Journalists go into war zones. They go into conflict areas. Professional journalists know what their standing is in these kinds of places and we don’t really need the RCMP to hold our hand in that case,” he says.
“That, frankly, is a silly and short-sighted argument for them to be making, that we need to protect journalists. It’s just not necessary at this point.”
Cox added that the RCMP couldn’t provide any examples of demonstrators dishonestly posing as journalists, although they claimed this was one of their reasons for shutting out the press at Fairy Creek.
“When these errors are the mere image of the errors they made in Wet’suwet’en, are they really errors? Or are they an attempt to frustrate journalists by limiting their media access?” he asks.
“Of course the police would prefer to do their work in secret, but our Charter does not provide them that luxury. If these tactics are left unchallenged, the primary victim will be the public’s right to know.”
Jimmy Thomson is the managing editor of Capital Daily in Victoria and a CAJ board member.
Last year, one of his journalists was detained, making it difficult for them to report. When he was turned away by officers at Fairy Creek, he felt like it was all happening again, worrying him about the future of press freedom in Canada.
“I’m much less likely to assign that story which means people are less likely to know what’s happening within the police in the woods,” he says.
“We don’t want it to appear that we’re fighting the RCMP because we have a stake in the side of the people at the blockade. We’re covering this because we have a right to cover this publicly, period, and we can’t cover it adequately without being on the ground.”
For now, CAJ plans to “fight like hell” to make sure Charter rights are respected for the journalists who enjoy them. For details on the injunction and proposed added clause, visit CAJ’s website.
Aly Laube is an event producer, journalist, and musician living on the unceded Coast Salish territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. She is a radio host on CitR and CIVL, the associate director of Cushy Entertainment, and the front woman of the local band Primp. In her spare time, she watches horror movies and panics about the ever-looming threat of climate change. As a queer mixed-race woman with a glaring inability to keep her mouth shut, Aly is very often in the throes of either rage or passion. In general, you can catch Aly doing too much all the time. She’s reachable at alaubefreelancing@gmail.com.
