BPC Bulletin: Police Charge Journalist Karl Dockstader in Ontario
News Reports and Commentary Selected by Franklin Carter of the Book and Periodical Council’s Freedom of Expression Committee.
In southern Ontario, a journalist plans to fight the criminal charges that police laid against him after he had filed reports about a land dispute in August.
Karl Dockstader, a broadcast journalist, spent several days at the site of a land dispute between the Haudenosaunee and Foxgate Developments in Caledonia.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) subsequently charged Mr. Dockstader with mischief and failure to comply with a court order. An injunction bars people from visiting the disputed land.
The OPP have charged other people too.
REPORTAGE
In St. Catharines, Grant LaFleche of The Standard reports:
In The Hamilton Spectator, J.P. Antonacci reports:
https://www.thespec.com/news/hamilton-region/2020/09/04/indigenous-journalist-researcher-arrested-in-caledonia-land-dispute.html
Liam Casey of the Canadian Press reports:
https://globalnews.ca/news/7317884/indigenous-journalist-academic-caledonia-charges/
Jorge Barrera of CBC News reports:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/karl-dockstader-opp-charges-caledonia-1.5713169
Brett Forester of the APTN reports.
Sept. 4:
COMMENTARY
The Canadian Association of Journalists and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression comment:
Thanks go to Grant Buckler who forwarded the CBC’s news report.
The Book and Periodical Council was formed in 1975 as the Book and Periodical Development Council to provide a venue for members to discuss industry issues, address mutual concerns and undertake projects for the benefit of Canadian writing and publishing.