Niagara Region apologizes for seizing reporter’s notes

‘Outrageous assault on media rights,’ says journalists’ group

The chief administrative officer of the Niagara Region issued a public apology for the inconvenience caused to a journalist by the seizure of his computer and notes during Thursday night’s council meeting.

However, Carmen D’Angelo would not say the region made a mistake in taking the equipment from St. Catharines Standard reporter Bill Sawchuk, nor could he explain why he thought he had the legal power to make the seizure.

Sawchuk’s equipment was confiscated by regional staff, who answer to D’Angelo, during a closed-door session of regional council. Regional clerk Frank Fabiano told Sawchuk that “someone” had accused the reporter of secretly recording the in-camera meeting.

Sawchuk was in the lobby of regional headquarters at the time, and his computer was on the media table inside the council chambers. He told Fabiano he was not recording the closed the session of council, but the computer and later his notes were taken anyway.

In an interview with The Standard Friday, D’Angelo was asked 17 times what legislation grants the municipality the authority to take a reporter’s notes and devices. He did not answer the question once.

D’Angelo, who repeatedly called Thursday’s incident “unprecedented” for him, did say that “our focus and full intention was to keep the integrity of the closed session meeting,” and that the intention was to turn the devices over to the police. “Once we got an assurance, once I heard Bill wasn’t recording, I apologized, we caused him inconvenience and we returned it,” D’Angelo said.

In fact, Sawchuk’s computer and notes weren’t returned until after midnight Thursday — four hours after they were taken — and after phone calls by a Standard reporter and the newspaper’s lawyer Doug Richardson.

When initially interviewed by the Standard Thursday night, Fabiano told the Standard to talk to the region’s lawyers about getting the computer back in the morning.

After Sawchuk’s computer was seized, two Niagara Regional Police officers arrived and he was ejected from the building without being permitted to retrieve his notebook.

When asked why Sawchuk was removed from the building, D’Angelo did not provide a reason. He only said that anyone seated at the media table was told to leave and that he was not aware who was recording anything.

The region drew sharp criticism over the incident Friday on social media and from media rights groups.

A statement by Canadian Journalists for Free Expression condemned the Region’s actions, saying it would take the authority of a court order to seize a reporter’s notes.

“The actions of Niagara Regional Council members and police are an outrageous assault on media rights, and evidence of a disturbing disregard for the role of the press in a democracy,” the statement says.

The incident happened midway through Thursday night’s council meeting.

Councillors voted to move in-camera to discuss code of conduct issues about controversial St. Catharines Councillor Andy Petrowski, who announced he was taking a leave of absence earlier in the day.

Sawchuk left council chambers to wait in the lobby for the open session to resume. His computer and notes were left on the media table where he was seated beside local blogger Preston Haskell. The computer was not recording the meeting. Fort Erie regional councillor Sandy Annunziata said he discovered a recording device under a hat after the closed session began.

Haskell did not return messages from The Standard Friday, but in a Friday blog post, Haskell said the device was running while council was in open session when he left to use the bathroom. When he returned, council had moved to closed session. He denied the device was concealed under a hat.