Canadian Mohawk wiretaps injuncted stories 2008
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- Release date
- July 19, 2008
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Further information
- Context
- Canada
- Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Globe and Mail, Canadian Press, Attorney General of Ontario
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On June 29, 2007 a group of Mohawks from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory blocked the CN Railway Line running through their territory, the Highway 401, and Highway 2 to protest conditions on Native reserves across Canada and the Government of Canada's sluggishness in resolving outstanding land claims. Blockade spokesman Shawn Brant faces multiple charges stemming from these actions, and the Crown prosecutor is currently seeking a 12 year minimum sentence.
During the preliminary inquiry to Shawn Brant's trial, it came out that the Ontario Provincial Police, headed by Commissioner Julian Fantino, had been using wiretaps on more than a dozen different Mohawks without a judge's authorization, an action almost unheard of recent history in Canada. Those conversations between Julian Fantino and Shawn Brant were presented as testimony during the pre-trial hearing.
The Crown obtained a publication ban during the preliminary inquiry, which was challenged last week by the Canadian Broadcasting Company after they found out that the O.P.P. had officers posing as cameramen during the Day of Action, a tactic that has recently been condemned by the Ipperwash Inquiry.
The publication ban was lifted by a judge on Thursday, July 17th, 2008. A number of news agencies published initial analysis on the testimony. The next day, July 18th, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered the publication ban re-instated until an appeal hearing next week.
The attached zip file includes:
- News stories from the CBC (CBC.doc) and Globe and Mail (Globe.doc) covering the testimony after the ban was lifted and before it was re-instated, causing all of these stories to be removed from the internet;
- A video broadcast from CBC News (OPP.mov) covering the story after the ban was lifted and before it was re-instated;
- A media advisory from the Attorney General of Ontario ordering media outlets to cease publication of news relating to the preliminary inquiry evidence and to take information down from all websites;
- An article from the Canadian Press (CP.doc) documenting Shawn Brant's lawyers reaction to the re-instating of the publication ban.