THE GALLEY, Media Club of Ottawa, Immigrants, education

Report - February Meeting

On Monday February 26, 2007 Media Club of Ottawa members met for the second time at Yesterday's Restaurant, where guest speaker Bill Caswell spoke about more effective approaches to the job market.

Yesterday's was chosen as a temporaru meeting place until the National Press Club reopens its facilities.

Report - January Meeting

On Monday January 29, 2007, Media Club of Ottawa members met at Yesterday's Restaurant.
.Guest speaker: Lawyer David Paciocco spoke about a democratic press and how it relates to the Juliet O'Neill case. See article below by Henry Hieald.

PROTECT YOUR SOURCES
By Henry F. Heald

Reporters must protect their sources or confidential information will dry up and human rights abuses will increase, according to Ottawa lawyer David Paciocco, who defended Citizen reporter Juliet O’Neill in court
Speaking to a luncheon meeting of the Media Club of Canada, Paciocco said O’Neill used the confidential information she received correctly and courageously in the public interest. The name of her informant remains a secret even after police ransacked O’Neill’s home and office and threatened her with 14 years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act.

Paciocco explained that the secret source was clearly someone in an official position who felt the public needed to know exactly what the government had – more correctly didn’t have – on Maher Arar. He suggested the police were not really interested in prosecuting Juliet O’Neill; they just thought they could frighten her into revealing her source to save them the effort and the embarrassment of investigating their own offices.

Ms O’Neill was in the audience, but did not speak. Mr. Paciocco said every country has an Official Secrets Act. The Canadian government put its Act into the new Anti-Terrorist Act and then used it to justify breaching the privacy of O’Neill.

Mr. Arar, a Canadian citizen, born in Syria, was arrested in the United States on information provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and sent to Syria where he spent a year in prison and was tortured. He has since been cleared by a judicial inquiry of any wrongdoing and has received an apology and compensation from the Canadian government. Ms O’Neill, who published an article in the Ottawa Citizen based on leaked information, has also been cleared by the court of any wrongdoing. David Paciocco commented that the function of freedom is to be able to free someone else. He hoped that the legacy of the whole affair would be to strengthen democracy, not weaken it.

Paciocco was introduced by Edward Melnychuk and thanked by Linda Steele.

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