Bloc moves to protect journalists’ sources

News
Serge Menard, a Bloc Quebecois MP and former journalist, has proposed a shield law to protect the identities of journalists’ confidential sources. Bill C-426, introduced on April 17, 2007, would amend the Canada Evidence Act to restrict when a court can order a journalist to name a source. Those seeking to expose a source would have to prove it is in the public interest to name the source and show they have done everything possible to identify the source by other means. Judges would have to consider the importance of the free flow of information and the impact on the source before compelling a journalist to name a confidential source. The bill would also require judges to impose strict conditions on any search warrant issued to seize a journalist’s notes or other documents in the media’s possession. Read the Bloc’s press release (French only) and news reports in Ottawa‘s Le Soleil and Presse Canadienne.