Juliet O'Neill
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Juliet O'Neill is a Canadian journalist who was the subject of controversy when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided her house, in an attempt to find the source of an internal leak giving her access to privileged documents related to the Maher Arar case.
A graduate of the University of Toronto, O'Neill had studied on a Southam Fellowship.[1]
Her position within the Ottawa Citizen office at the time was Foreign Affairs correspondent, and she had earlier served as a foreign correspondent in Moscow[1].
In 1986, O'Neill was working for the Canadian Press newswire, when she caught international attention for being the only reporter to capture Sondra Gotlieb assaulting her social secretary Connie Gibson Connor at a state dinner held to honour Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and US Vice President George H. Bush.[2]
O'Neill obtained privileged on January 21, 2004 documents related to the Maher Arar case. In response, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police raided her house as part of an attempt to identify the leak. The raid seized notebooks, files, hard drives and other materials.
In November 2004, Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled that the sealing of the search warrants was unacceptable, although Justice of the Peace Richard Sculthorpe had given approval after the RCMP invoked the Security of Information Act. Justice Ratushny stated that the sealing of the search violated guarantees of a free press, freedom of expression and the publics right to an open court system. She ordered that a redacted copy be released to the public.[3]
In October 2006, Ontario Superior Court Judge Ratushny struck down Section 4 of the Security of Information Act[4], ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague" and broad[5] and an infringement of freedom of expression.
All materials seized from O'Neill were ordered returned.
O'Neill was represented by attorneys Rick Dearden and Wendy Wagner from Gowlings Law Firm.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Those Were the Days | Taddle Creek | www.taddlecreekmag.com
- ^ Washington Monthly, Washington Rollercoaster. - book reviews, 1990
- ^ injusticebusters 2004 > > Juliet O'Neill: Traumatising a reporter
- ^ Section 4 of the Security of Information Act. Consolidated Statutes and Regulations. Department of Justice Canada (2006-9-15). Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
- ^ MacLeod, Ian. "Decision offers chance to overhaul security act", The Ottawa Citizen, October 20, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-10-26. (EN)
