La Presse columnist says he was put under police surveillance as part of 'attempt to intimidate'

A columnist for Montreal's La Pressenewspaper says the city'spolice have been spying on him for months, as part of an attempt to intimidate members of the police force who want to share information with journalists.

Police obtained 24 warrants this yearto track Patrick Lagac's whereabouts using the GPS chip in his iPhone, and to obtain the identities of everyone he has spoken and messaged with, La Pressereported.

I lived in this fiction that this could not happen in this country. PatrickLagac, La Pressecolumnist

Lagacsaid police told him he was being used as a "tool" in an investigation into one of its own officers.

"I was flabbergastedbecause I thought that in this country it takes very, very serious motives to track and spy on a journalist like that motives that are so serious that's it's never happened before," Lagac said in an interview with CBC News on Monday.

"My metadata was transferred to the police. The police had the right to activate the GPS in my phone to locate me at any time. I lived in this fiction that this could not happen in this country."

• MORE:Surveillance of reporter a 'serious attack on freedom of the press in Canada'

Lagacadded that he questions the judge's decision.

"What shocks me is that a judge decided this is perfectly normal in a democracy," he said.

"When we start spying on journalists there are questions to be asked about who the judges are [who are] authorizing these warrants."

The revelations have raised concern among journalism advocacy groups and drawn the attention of anti-surveillance advocates, including NSA whistleblowerEdward Snowden.

"Are you a journalist? The police spying on you specifically to ID your sources isn't a hypothetical. This is today," Snowden wrote on Twitter, referring to the story.

'An exceptional situation': police chief

Montreal police Chief Philippe Pichetdefended his department's actions, saying the tactic was necessary in order for police to investigate one of their own.

"This is an exceptional situation," Pichet said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

"This operationtargetedone of our officers and notMr. Lagac TheSPVM[Montreal Police Department], and myself, we are very conscientious about the importance of respecting the freedom of the press.However, theSPVMalso has the responsibility to carryout investigations on criminal acts even against policeofficers."

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Pichet added that no rules were violated in obtaining the warrants to track Lagac.

An 'exceptional' case, says Montreal police chief Philippe Pichet

8 years ago

Duration 0:39

Pichet spoke with reporters Monday afternoon.

"We respected every law to obtain the warrant we got.We followed the rules, and the judge authorized the warrant."

Pichetsaid investigators met with Lagac last Friday "to explain the context in which we used this investigative technique for our investigation. We were notlegallyobliged to, but wanted to meet with him to explain what we were doing."

"I don't care about courtesy, I care about freedom of the press," Lagac responded in an interview on CBC Radio One's Homerun moments after the police chief spoke out.

Pichetalso would not rule out that police may be spying on other journalists. He said that "to his knowledge" no other journalists are currently the subject of warrants but he could not guarantee it.

'Judge shopping'

In one defencelawyer's view, the fact the warrantswere issued at all may be a result of apracticecalled "judge shopping,"whereby before going to court,lawyersandpolicemake sure the sittingjudge is one who islikely to authorize their requests.

JeffreyBorotold CBC Montreal'sDaybreakthe decision threatens the roles journalists and defence lawyers play in society.

"If journalists are not allowed to work without having these worries, not being able to get informants to tell them what's going on, it weakens our whole system," he said.

TheLagaccase comes a month after Quebec police targeted another journalist.

In September, theSretduQubecseized Journal deMontralreporter MichaelNguyen'scomputer because they believed he illegally obtained information cited in a story he wrote.

'Very worrisome'

Montreal Mayor DenisCoderresaid he was "preoccupied" by the situation,which he said cannot be taken lightly, but that he never meddles in police and legalmatters.

"Democracy is fragile. We have to make sure we're protecting it, and one of the reasons why we have democracy is freedom of speech and freedom of press,"Coderresaid.

He said he spoke to police Chief PhilippePichetabout his concerns but did not ask for explanations.

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Quebec's Public Security Minister MartinCoiteuxcalledthe situation "very worrisome," and commended La Presse for coming forward.

"[This]raises the debate of the independence of all the powers in our society the political power, the judicial power, the police services and the independent press," he told reporters on Monday. "And all of theses things need to be respected and all of these things need to be defended."

Coiteux saidhis office has started to look into the matter.

Montreal police did not immediately return a request for comment to CBC News.

Lagac targeted as part of ongoing probe

Evidence that police weretracking Lagac came to light when anotherreporter, DanielRenaud,lookedinto a police investigation about anti-gang officers fabricating evidence and Lagac'sname kept comingup, Lagacsaid.

Lagacsaid he met withpolice last Friday. The officers told him they had been monitoringofficerFaycalDjelidi, one of thetargets of their investigation, earlier this year andsaw he and Lagac had been in contact.

In the days following those calls, articles were published in the media about cases Djelidi had information about.

Investigators then opened another probe into allegations of breach of trust on Djelidi's part, and it was as part of that investigation that they obtained the warrants to monitor Lagac, according to La Presse.

Montreal police arebelieved to be cracking down on officers who act as sources for journalists.

• Montreal police chief says media leaks won't be tolerated

"For a long time, the [Montreal police force] has been irritated by the fact that articles are being written about its internal affairs, on police operations or internal dysfunction," Lagac said.

"I have done a few of those articles over the years. I'm convinced this is an attempt to intimidate everyone inside the police force who may want to talk to a journalist."

Lagacsaidpolice told himthe measure was exceptional. He and his colleagues couldn't find any precedent in Canada, he said.

Lagacsaid he doesn't think he's above the law, but in a free society police should only be tracking journalists if they believe they've committed serious crimes.

La Presselawyers in court

Sbastien-PierreRoy, a lawyer for LaPresse, was in court Monday morning to request thatthe phone numbers of any sources who contactedLagacwhile he was under surveillance aren't made public.

The case will be back in court Nov. 24, when it is expected the warrants will be unsealed.