La Presse’s Patrick Lagacé, journalist Mohamed Fahmy and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression executive director Tom Henheffer listen to Vice News reporter Ben Makuch speak about his experiences on police surveillance in Ottawa in November.Adrian Wyld/The Globe and Mail
A Quebec inquiry is calling for legal protections for journalistic sources and a greater distance between politicians and the police, highlighting weaknesses that led to the covert surveillance of reporters in the province.
The commission of inquiry came up with a list of 27 recommendations to address the controversy, but the cornerstone is a provincial law to shield journalists' sources as well as their work material. The measure would help safeguard media freedoms, the commission concludes.
"Such a law would underscore in a striking way the importance of journalism in our democratic society," the commission headed by Justice Jacques Chamberland said in the report released on Thursday.
The findings were lauded by Quebec's main journalist organization, and Premier Philippe Couillard said his government would follow up the recommendation for a shield law for journalists.
"We welcome this recommendation," Mr. Couillard said. "It's a major legislative task and we will start working on it at the beginning of 2018."
The Chamberland inquiry was launched by the province last November after disclosures that police forces obtained warrants to track the phone records of several journalists in Quebec, sometimes going back five years. Officers took the steps as part of their own internal investigations to try to find the sources of leaks to the media.
The commission found evidence that police forces displayed "a certain lack of sensitivity, of knowledge, and caution" when handling privacy issues in the digital age.
"This lack of sensitivity is particularly worrisome when it touches on journalists' work to collect information and protect their confidential sources," the report says.
The commission recommends Quebec create an "umbrella law" to protect journalists' sources, which would extend to people who collaborate with reporters. Journalists should also have the right to remain silent when it comes to testifying in court, and would not be forced to answer requests for materials used when drafting their news reports.
The law would mirror federal legislation adopted in October that bolsters the protection of journalistic sources. The federal legislation – Bill S-231 – is limited to criminal law, which falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of Parliament, while the proposed Quebec law would extend to civil matters, as well as criminal matters covered by provincial legislation.
Quebec's main journalist group, the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, welcomed the proposals.
"If the Quebec government adopts these recommendations, it will show the province is finally catching up with what's going on in the rest of the Western world when it comes to protecting journalistic sources," group president Stéphane Giroux said.
Mr. Giroux praised the recommendation for protection of journalists' materials such as their notes or recordings, as well as the inclusion of civil suits in the proposed legislation.
"We're very happy over all that the commission showed an understanding of the issues faced by journalists after the scandal last fall," he said.
The commission also calls for a legal framework to ensure police independence from politicians, and recommends reviewing how police chiefs are appointed to ensure an arm's-length relationship with political power.
The commission heard that, in one case, police obtained a warrant to check a Montreal journalist's phone records after a 2014 complaint to the police chief by the former mayor of Montreal, Denis Coderre. Mr. Coderre said he was angry that personal information about him had repeatedly been leaked to the media.
The commission says it found no evidence of any elected official trying to meddle in a police investigation.
"That said," it added in its report, "a call from a mayor or minister to a chief of police undoubtedly gets special attention. The desire expressed or question asked can easily be perceived as an order."
The commission recommends legislative measures to prevent political interference.
"The law should provide that it is inappropriate for an elected official in a position of authority to contact the chief of a police force to discuss a personal situation that may lead to a criminal investigation," the report says.
A police chief could then refuse to respond to a politician's request "if he considers it would amount to an interference in the conduct of investigations or operations," the report says.
The commission found no evidence that justices of the peace, who faced criticism they bowed too easily to police requests for search warrants, failed to act with diligence. "Evidence does not support the statement that justices of the peace simply put their signature on requests presented to them without the appropriate checks," the report concluded.
However, the commission recommends that police be obliged to systematically alert journalists "in the days" after a warrant or authorization is granted.