Ombudsman report coming tomorrow on Niagara Region seizing a reporter's laptop

The Ontario Ombudsmanwill release his report Wednesday morning examiningan incident where Niagara Region officials seized a reporter's laptop and notebook.

Paul Dubwill post his findings and recommendations online at 9:30 a.m. The case, which raised concerns around press freedom,stems froma Decemberincident where a St. Catharines Standard reporter and a citizen blogger were forced to leave regional headquarterswith police nearby.

"This matter has raised serious concerns about the actions and processes of the municipality, and has understandably drawn high public interest," Dub said in December.

At the meeting. Bill Sawchuk, a veteran reporter from the St. CatharinesStandard, left his belongings in the regional council chamber when council went in camera.

The region suspected Sawchuk's laptop was on and recording and took his laptop and notebook. It wouldn't return them until the Standard's lawyer called.

The region apologized for inconveniencing Sawchuk, and said it would review its policies and protocols to make sure it didn't happen again.

The Canadian Journalists for Free Expression said they were "deeply concerned."

"A reporter's notes, sources and electronic devices should never be seized or searched except through enforcement of a court order, and only then under most narrow and rigorously scrutinized circumstances," the organization said then in a letter to Niagara Region CAOCarmen D'Angelo.

Sawchuk tweeted that he was "dismayed and angry about tonight's events," but "I feel good that I eventually filed my stories and kept our readers informed. In the end, that's what it is all about."

As for the blogger, Preston Haskell was seated at the same media table as Sawchuk. Niagara Regional Police seized Haskell'sdigital recorder, the Standard reports, but didn't charge him.

Haskell told the Standard he was recording the meeting with his recorder in plain view. He left to use the washroom, and when he returned, council had gone into a private session.

The Special Ombudsman Response Team (SORT) did dozens of interviews and reviewed documentsas part of the investigation, says the office's annual report.