Canada’s Supreme Court rules journalists do not have a blanket right to protect secret sources
By APFriday, May 7, 2010
Court rules against National Post in source case
TORONTO — The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that journalists do not have a blanket right to shield confidential sources.
The court on Friday ruled 8-1 against the National Post and former reporter Andrew McIntosh.
In 2000, McIntosh was investigating allegations that then-prime minister Jean Chretien profited from real estate deals in the 1990s.
The justices upheld the legality of a search warrant and assistance order which demanded McIntosh hand over a document supplied by a confidential source, who sent the reporter a document which was later denounced as a forgery.
The court says the right of the police to investigate a potential crime in this case outweighs the newspaper’s right to protect a source.
