Photojournalist, news organization file lawsuit against RCMP over B.C. arrest
CTV
Canadian photojournalist Amber Bracken and news organization the Narwhal have filed a lawsuit against the RCMP, claiming Bracken was wrongfully arrested and detained while reporting on a British Columbia pipeline dispute.
Canadian photojournalist Amber Bracken and news organization the Narwhal have filed a lawsuit against the RCMP, claiming Bracken was wrongfully arrested and detained for three nights while reporting on a British Columbia pipeline dispute.
The lawsuit seeks a court declaration that Bracken's constitutional rights to liberty and freedom of the press were unlawfully breached in November 2021, when police arrested her during an operation to enforce an injunction granted to the company building the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
The claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday argues Bracken didn't breach the injunction because she was there as a journalist and the RCMP were notified that she was a member of the media before, during and after her arrest.
Narwhal executive editor Carol Linnitt says the outlet had written to the RCMP the day before the arrest, alerting them to Bracken's presence, and she carried a letter of assignment along with camera gear and tags indicating she was a journalist.
Linnitt told a press conference outside B.C. Supreme Court that Bracken's arrest was the latest in “a string of incidents that display a troubling lack of regard for freedom of the press by Canadian police,” including previous arrests of journalists at Indigenous-led protests in Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador.
None of the claims have been tested in court and statements haven't yet been filed in response to the lawsuit, which lists the B.C. and federal governments, RCMP Chief Supt. John Brewer and three unknown RCMP officers as defendants.
The Narwhal did not file the lawsuit solely for its own team and Bracken, “but to clear a path for all journalists in Canada to do their work without risk of police interference,” editor-in-chief Emma Gilchrist told the news conference.
