Canada: CFWIJ Condemns The Ongoing Institutional Overreaches By The Rcmp At Fairy Creek
Location: Canada, Vancouver Island
Date: June 16, 2021
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has routinely intimidated journalists and restricted the access of the press from covering the protests of The Rainforest Flying Squad. The protest began against logging of an old-growth forest in the region last year, and have been successful in blocking the action since. This, however, has not stopped violations of civil liberties as armed forces carry out arbitrary arrests and bully journalists covering the proceedings.
On June 15, photojournalist Jen Osborne was prevented from covering the events at Fairy Creek. In a tweet, she claimed that she was denied access to ensure that the police brutality against protestors remains under wraps.
Police denied me access to Waterfall camp today, likely due to agressive tactics inside, near #FairyCreek . Protestors reported three agressive arrests there today. #PressFreedom pic.twitter.com/gCjKzhJLGq
— Jen Osborne (@RealJenOsborne) June 15, 2021
She followed this tweet up with another to raise alarm on the deteriorating state of press freedoms that are a result of the power RCMP is being allowed to exert in the region.
Members of the press should be free to have fluid access in police enforcement zones without a police liaison present. To do otherwise forces an act of public relations. Constant media surveillance does not support a free press. #pressfreedom #fairycree
— Jen Osborne (@RealJenOsborne) June 16, 2021
Jen Osborne’s fears are valid. This is not the first time such restrictions have been enacted by the RCMP at Fairy Creek. Last month, on May 17, Jen Osborne revealed that the armed officers had led her on a wild goose chase in order to prevent her from covering the protests. When she returned on May 19, to continue her work, she found the environment to be fairly hostile. The journalist reported to CFWIJ that the RCMP had granted access to advocacy journalists who were “particularly belligerent and problematic”, making the situation considerably more difficult for the other journalists present. The advocates were adamantly defending press freedom as a means of protest, but it inevitably interfered with the journalists trying to report on the blockade and the related arrests. The RCMP contained all of the journalists for most of the day, at a distance. Jen disclosed that they were too far away to capture any decent footage or photographs.
The overreaches by RCMP have become quite notorious causing the Canadian Association of Journalists, to criticize the broad scope of powers granted to the RCMP by legal authorities. These overreaches were also observed when In February, Brandi Morin was intimidated by RCMP officers when she tried to visit the Unist’ot’en Healing Camp.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is extremely concerned about the restrictions on the media and the arrests of those protesting the environmental violence in the region. The Canadian state should reign in the powers given to the RCMP in order to ensure protection of the democratic values it claims to stand by.
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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