Canada: American Journalist Melissa Cox’s Arrest Exposes Problems With Press Freedom
Location: Canada, British Columbia
Date: February 29, 2020
Melissa Cox, an American journalist and documentary filmmaker, was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on February 24. However , she was conditionally released after seven hours of detention.
She was detained on an unceded Gitxsan territory in New Hazelton. Melissa was documenting a protest by indigenous people in Canada’s westernmost province. We condemn Melissa’s arrest and urge Canadian authorities to ensure her security while she is in Canada.
For the past two months, she has been working on her feature documentary 'YINT'AH' that documents the resistance of Wet’suwet’en First Nation land defenders against Coastal GasLink’s pipeline project. When Melissa was filming the arrest of Gitxsan hereditary Chief Spookw at the railroad blockade, she was handcuffed by the RCMP. The RCMP personnel also dropped her camera on the ground when taking her into custody and later tampered with it.
This act by the RCMP towards a journalist documenting the situation on the ground is unacceptable. Melissa was filming for her documentary and the fact that she was arrested for doing her job is extremely worrying. She was not going against the rules and also had her press credentials from the National Press Photographers Association. Despite following professional protocols, it is beyond one’s comprehension why Melissa has been targeted.
The producers of the documentary stated that “undue force” was employed when arresting Melissa. Her left arm was twisted by RCMP officers, who also snatched away her equipment. Melissa had an injured left shoulder already, yet the officers cuffed her with so much force that she ended up crying in pain.
The treatment of journalist Melissa Cox is outrageous.
— Canadian Association of Journalists (@caj) February 26, 2020
The RCMP needs to be told it cannot arrest journalists for reporting on their actions. The conditions that she as a reporter must not return to the site are unconstitutional.https://t.co/La4rGb1KnV
RCMP arrested journalist Melissa Cox for doing her job and are now accused of twisting her arm, prying her camera from her hands, throwing it on the ground, and then fucking around with it (deleting footage?). https://t.co/9blvq7Y6Fl
— Support Canadaland (@JesseBrown) February 26, 2020
Melissa was unable to document the developments at the site, as she herself was detained. She was kept under arrest for approximately seven hours and was freed on restrictive conditions that would keep her “10 meters off any CN property or work-site”. The condition restricted Melissa to cover further development in the area. She is also summoned by the court on April 24, for additional prosecution.
Nobody deserves such a painful treatment. Melissa was documenting the protests which fall in line with the nature of her project. It is unwarranted of the RCMP to have detained her for hours and physically heckled her. This exposes the injustice that is taking place in the area, something the protestors have been incessantly fighting against. This is not the first time journalists have been shoved away. In Wet’suwet’en, too, where the indigenous community has been fighting for their rights to the land, the RCMP has previously threatened to arrest journalist reporting police raids in the territory.
The incident gives journalists and human rights activists the message to restrict their mobility in the area. Regardless of how progressive Canada is, this incident has left an indelible mark on the idea of freedom of speech in the country.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism urges Canada’s authorities to conduct an investigation about the way Melissa was treated by the RCMP. She was only filming her documentary on the ground and was not part of the protests. It is unfathomable why she was arrested in the first place. Canada is known to be a free and open society, to witness an Orwellian nightmare in such a country is difficult to comprehend.
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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org
The CFWIJ strongly condemns the police brutality against journalists. We demand the immediate return of the press cards seized from the security forces. Policies to intimidate journalists should be abandoned, and journalism should be practiced under the criteria of freedom of the press.
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