Canada

Aa
73rd General Assembly
Salt Lake City, Utah
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There have been several changes in the situation of the press in the nation.

It is important to remember that although the Trudeau government immediately took to task the unmuzzling of scientists and civil servants, opening new spaces to Citizen's right to know, there is still a generalized perception of a lack of transparency on certain issues that have increasingly become the center of attention since there is a new government in the United States.

Is a difficult topic the matter of shared surveillance, border security and the possible violation of individual liberties in the way Border security agencies are tracking the use of digital information on cellphones and other electronic devices by citizens crossing to and from the United States.

The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) announced their satisfaction that Canada's Parliament is set to pass Bill S-231, which "strengthens protections for confidential sources of journalists". The Bill, also known as the Journalistic Sources Protection Act, passed third reading at the end of the past month of September. It is expected to receive royal assent shortly.

This new law will allow journalists to refuse to surrender documents to law enforcement officials that would identify an anonymous source, except in certain circumstances.

This decision remarks the case of several journalists from Quebec that were placed under police surveillance in efforts to identify their sources. The journalists were investigating police misconduct by officers who investigate street gangs and drug traffic. The troubling issue was that under common law in most of Canada,

the Supreme Court has upheld that journalistic sources may be protected, but that protection was to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

The other critical on-going concern in Canada is the now very evident and tangible declining readership of the printed press.

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