Mr. Speaker, January 22 was a sad day for our democracy when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided the home and office of Juliette O'Neil, a journalist from the Ottawa Citizen , under the Security of Information Act.
This police action challenges one of the pillars of our democracy, namely freedom of the press and the protection of sources.
The president of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, Anne-Marie Dussault, finds it disturbing and shocking that police would seize journalistic material collected in good faith. She had warned the government, in the fall of 2001, when the controversial anti-terrorism bill was passed, that things might get out of hand.
The Bloc Quebecois believes that such interference in the affairs of the Ottawa Citizen is a threat not only to the public's right to know but also to the right of journalists to carry on their profession freely.
The Bloc Quebecois therefore calls on the government to do everything in its power to ensure that these principles remain sacred.