Couillard announces measures in wake of police monitoring of Quebec reporter

QUEBEC — Revelations that Montreal police kept tabs on a reporter’s iPhone prompted Premier Philippe Couillard to announce Tuesday he is forming a committee of experts to look into the surveillance of journalists.

“People have died for freedom of the press,” he told a news conference. “It is a basic freedom.”

The group, which will include a judge, a police official and a member of the media, is expected to present its report to the Quebec justice minister by next spring.

Couillard also announced it will be harder for police to obtain a court-issued warrant to monitor journalists.

“An order will be given this week by the public security minister that will elevate the threshold of difficulty in order to obtain a warrant for members of the media to the same level as what we have now for judges, lawyers and members of the national assembly,” he said.

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The announcements come a day after it emerged Montreal police had obtained at least 24 surveillance warrants for the iPhone belonging to La Presse columnist Patrick Lagace at the request of the special investigations unit that looks into crime within the police force.

Three of those warrants reportedly authorized police to get the phone numbers for all Lagace’s incoming and outgoing texts and calls, while another allowed them to track the phone’s location via its GPS chip.

The surveillance was ordered as part of an internal probe into allegations police anti-gang investigators fabricated evidence.

Five police officers were arrested this summer and two were charged as a result.

Lagace said police told him they obtained the court-authorized warrants because they believed the target of one of their investigations was feeding him information.

Couillard also said the Public Security Department will investigate procedures at the three major police forces in Quebec — the provincial police and the Montreal and Quebec City forces.

The Canadian Press