Index on Censorship » Canada

Canada: Activist charged with criminal defamation

Marta Cooper — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:26:45 +0000

Ontario Provincial Police have charged an activist with two counts of defamatory libel for online comments he made regarding undercover police officers. Using fake names, Dan Kellar outed two officers who had infiltrated activist networks. Upon learning that one of them was spotted in Toronto, he put out a “community alert’’ on the website of an activist group he was involved with. Police claim the comments were likely to injure the reputation of the officers by exposing them to hatred, contempt or ridicule. Kellar says the charges are an attempt to stifle dissent. He will appear in court in Toronto on 20 September.

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Canada: Decision to pull Dire Straits song reversed

Sara Yasin — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 08:58:31 +0000

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) overturned a January decision to pull a 1985 song by the popular Dire Straits. The song, “Money for nothing”, was pulled from airwaves after complaints over the lyrics, which use the word “faggot”. The council reversed the decision after considering the meaning of the lyrics, which were meant to be satirical.

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UK: New Google Street View privacy pressure

William Clowes — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:45:32 +0000

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), Britain’s privacy watchdog, has reopened its investigation into Google Street View after the company admitted it copied personal data. Google is facing similar pressures from privacy watchdogs in other countries, including Spain, Germany, and Canada. In May, the ICO had investigated revelations that Google had gathered unprotected information but it concluded that no “significant” personal details had been collected. The renewed scrutiny stems from Google’s admission, following analysis by other privacy bodies, that they had harvested more information than previously thought.

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Canada: Google Street View violates privacy laws

Index on Censorship — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:34:18 +0000

Google has been found in violation of Canadian privacy law. On Tuesday the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, Jennifer Stoddart, stated in a news release on the Commissioner’s website that Google’s Street View mapping cars had unintentionally gathered personal information about Canadian citizens. This collection of citizens information was a “serious violation of Canadians’ privacy rights,” said Stoddart.

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Canada: Activist silenced by “astonishing” bail conditions

Intern — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 14:03:05 +0000

A Canadian court has placed numerous restrictions on an activist as part of his bail release. Alex Hundert may not speak with any member of the press, nor may he plan, attend, or participate in any public event related to a political issue. He was charged with three counts of conspiracy for involvement in violent activities at the G20 summit in Toronto last June. Hundert was released in July on $100,000 bail with around 20 court-imposed restrictions, including a ban on attending public demonstrations. After being rearrested for participating in a panel discussion at Ryerson University, he was released on 13 October on the condition that he adhere to additional restrictions. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has said the measures are “only aimed at silencing speech“.

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Canada: Website operator charged with libel

Intern — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:47:34 +0000

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Friday that a blogger in Calvary faces five charges related to his website. John Kelly, 53, has long been highly critical of Calgary police officers, using his site to accuse officers of “perjury, corruption and destroying evidence” according to the RCMP. Charges include four counts of publishing libellous statements on the Internet against specific police officers between November 2009 and Sept. 4, 2010. Critics of the Defamatory Libel law assert that it “violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms”.

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Quebec to ban niqab

Intern — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:55:33 +0000

Quebec’s legislature has introduced a bill which could ban woman wearing the niqab face veil if they wish to access public services in the province. Public debate on the controversial Bill 94 has been suspended until August after more than 60 recommendations were received in the first three days of testimony. It is now unlikely that the bill will be voted into law before the end of the current legislative session in June.

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Canada: No constitutional right to protect sources, court rules

Intern — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:01:41 +0000

The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that journalists do not have the constitutional right to protect the identity of their sources. The judgment means the question of whether a reporter must reveal their sources should be decided on a case-by-case basis. At issue were a series of articles written in 2001 by Andrew McIntosh of the National Post newspaper. The pieces claimed that prime-minster, Jean Chrétien, had intervened on behalf of a constituent who was seeking a loan from a government-owned development bank. The bank claimed that documents which McIntosh used in support of his allegations were in fact forgeries, and a search warrant was issued to seize copies. The court found that the warrant was justified, because the accusations of forgery were “of sufficient seriousness to justify the decision of the police to investigate”.

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Canada takes chill off libel laws

Index on Censorship — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:19:28 +0000

The Canadian Supreme Court ruled on 23 December to strengthen the public interest defence in libel cases. The chief justice stated that the law as it stood did not “give adequate weight” to free expression. The court also moved to change the wording of the defence of “responsible journalism” to “responsible communication”, which potentially allows the law to cover new media such as blogs. The decision followed high profile libel cases involving two newspapers, the Star and the Ottawa Citizen. Read more

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Canadian paper apologises for PM wafer row

Index on Censorship — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:23:20 +0000

The Telegraph-Journal of Saint John newspaper has issued a front-page apology to the Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper for its earlier story suggesting he slipped a communion wafer into his jacket pocket during a Catholic funeral mass. The publisher and editor are no longer with the paper after it was forced to apologise. Read more here

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