Quebec vows law to protect journalists

POLICE SPYING

RENE BRUEMMER MONTREAL • The Quebec government is promising a new law to better protect journalists’ sources — as well as the documents and information they collect — following recommendations of a provincial inquiry into police spying on reporters.

The inquiry is also urging the province to adopt new regulations to ensure police can work independently of elected officials, following reports of possible political interference.

These were the two key recommendations Thursday from the final report of the Chamberland Commission, created last year after revelations that Quebec police had been spying on journalists in the course of their investigations, based in part on the belief officers were leaking information to the media.

Hours after the report was filed, Justice Minister Stéphanie Vallée and Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux promised the recommendations would be carried out.

Quebec’s federation of journalists hailed the report as a victory, saying it represented the second major step toward the protection of journalistic sources in two months. In October, the federal government passed the Journalistic Sources Protection Act, which amended the Criminal Code to make it harder for police to obtain information regarding journalists’ sources.

While calling for increased protection, the 217-page report found police were within their rights in regards to the investigations that spurred the inquiry. The commissioners found the investigations centred on police officers — not journalists — and that judges were justified in granting warrants allowing the surveillance of journalists.

Critics had accused justices of the peace of “rubberstamping” police requests for warrants to track journalists’ cellphone records.

“The investigations were conducted in compliance with the legislative framework,” the report reads. “Based on the evidence, the choice of investigative methods was defendable, and, in all cases, the documents produced in support of the judicial authorizations explained the connection between the alleged offence against the police officers targeted by the investigation and the journalists targeted by the method.”

However, the commissioners noted supervision of investigators’ work was lacking, and “the evidence revealed a certain lack of sensitivity, knowledge and precaution from the investigators with regard to personal life issues.”

The commission found that allegations of political intervention in the launching of police investigations were unfounded.

But it singled out as problematic cases in which a mayor or minister called the chief of police — an allusion to former Montreal mayor Denis Coderre. Coderre testified during the hearings he was furious that personal information, including traffic violations, had been leaked to the media, and in 2014 contacted police chief Marc Parent to complain.