Canadian court publication ban raises press-freedom concerns

A Canadian court has banned publication of facts related to an alleged plot to seize land for an anti-government militia, drawing criticism from press-freedom advocates and legal experts concerned the move could compromise citizens’ understanding of threats to public safety.

The Quebec Superior Court ordered the publication ban in February, according to a copy of the order seen by Reuters. It came days after a lower-level court released more than a thousand pages of documents related to a police investigation of four men, including two active-duty soldiers, who were arrested last summer.

Three of them were accused of taking “concrete actions to facilitate terrorist activity" and a fourth with weapons charges.

One legal expert said such bans commonly seek to restrict access to sensitive details that could jeopardize ongoing investigations or identify vulnerable victims.

But he called the broad ban on information in this case unusual.

"Rights, including freedom of the press, are not absolute. But restrictions need to be reasonable," said Wayne MacKay, emeritus professor of ⁠law at Dalhousie University. "The broader the ban and the more sweeping it is, the harder it is to justify."

The judge’s order gave no rationale for the ban, and a spokeswoman for Quebec Superior Court said the institution and its judges are prohibited from commenting on any decision.

The prosecution and two of four defence lawyers in the cases told Reuters they had not requested restricting information about the cases from public review.

James Turk, director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University, said the court’s silence on its reasoning makes it difficult to assess the ban’s necessity or its vulnerability to court challenges.


-Reuters