26 June 2001
POLICE SEIZE PROTEST FOOTAGE AGAIN
In the latest case of police seizure of journalist's footage, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have seized videotapes and other materials belonging to Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) correspondent Todd Lamirande, reports Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE). On 24 June, in Sun Peaks, British Columbia, Lamirande videotaped part of a confrontation between aboriginal people protesting a ski resort development and local supporters of the project. As Lamirande was driving away from the site, the RCMP pulled his car over and seized the vehicle and all its contents, including his TV news camera, videotapes, notes and personal effects. According to the journalist, the only reason that police gave for his detention and the seizure of materials was that "they suspect the videotapes have evidence of a crime on them." The RCMP later released Lamirande and returned his vehicle and personal effects, but they continue to hold onto the video footage. The APTN is seeking a court injunction to prevent use of the videotape.
The incident is the latest in a series of seizures of video footage by various Canadian police forces for use in investigations. On 15 June 2000, Toronto police seized video footage of an anti-poverty protest at the Ontario legislature on the grounds that they needed media photographs and videotape to help identify participants, as media were able to get closer to the demonstrators than police, reports CJFE. Similarly, on 5 April 2000, police in Montreal demanded that television stations Radio Canada and TVA hand over recordings of a protest at which violence had broken out, according to Reporters sans frontières (RSF). CJFE says that such seizures display a disregard for the role of the media in society and undermine its neutrality, as journalists risk being perceived as adjuncts of the state.
For more information, see www.cjfe.org.
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