British Columbia’s human rights commissioner plans to tell the provincial government it should rewrite its laws and rules to more clearly protect the right of journalists to report on police enforcement activities, The Tyee has learned.
The commissioner wants police to stop using “exclusion zones” to bar the media from areas where officers are undertaking enforcement activities, unless they have judicial permission or are facing an immediate public safety threat.
And with police forces continuing to restrict media access despite legal rulings calling the practice unconstitutional, the commissioner is asking the province to formally restrict the practice, while also asking for more education for frontline officers.
The recommendations are to be included in a report expected to be delivered next month. The report has not been published, but the recommendations were included in a letter sent by commissioner Kasari Govender to municipalities around the province in mid-January. The commissioner had asked municipalities not to release the recommendations, but they were included in a recent council agenda for Northern Rockies Regional Municipality.
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