Canada

Freedom of expression has been affected by judicial orders and legislative initiatives, particularly in the field of access to government information, during the second semester of 2002. In August, the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) protested an increase in fees for obtaining copies of public records under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act in Nova Scotia province. The CAJ declared that the Nova Scotia government’s action was an unprecedented attack on the public’s right to access government-held information that affected their lives. The media organization reported that five months after the provincial Tory politicians imposed the highest access fees in Canada, the number of requests for public information had dramatically declined. CAJ president Robert Cribb stated that, “the sharp drop in access to information requests is sure to prompt a sigh of relief among Nova Scotia Tories, who now know their actions are more comfortably hidden from the public.” Several news media organizations united in protesting a federal government proposal, made in response to world terrorism, to build a massive Big Brother database of personal information about every Canadian air traveler. The government is allegedly preparing the database with information relevant to six years of air travel of all travel activities – every destination, accompanying passengers, how the ticket was paid, the duration of the stay, the amount of luggage and even dietary preferences. Recently, a judge allowed for two news media organizations to join in a legal challenge to a search warrant and assistance order against the National Post by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that required the editor-in-chief to hand over to the police some documents mailed to the newspaper last year. The legal challenge presented by the National Post is aimed at defending the right of a journalist to communicate with confidential sources. The judicial order allowing The Globe and Mail and CBS to be a part of the legal challenge to the warrant was described by the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression organization as a “heartening development in the fight for press freedom.” The Canadian Supreme Court decided in June against an appeal presented by the provincial government of Nova Scotia to a ruling ordering the release of background information on cabinet decisions. Press organizations hailed the ruling as a victory for access to information. An overwhelming majority of Canadians want the federal government to protect freedom of expression in the media and deal with the issue of concentration of ownership, according to a national public opinion poll released in July. The poll, conducted for Canada’s largest media labor union, the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, was conducted 12 days after Ottawa Citizen publisher Russell Mills was fired for writing an editorial calling on Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to resign. The survey found that most Canadians believe media owners exercise too much control over the content of news and opinion in Canada’s newspapers, radio and television stations, and that the issue of media concentration warrants action by the federal government.