SQ had 7th journalist under surveillance, chief tells inquiry

The head of the Quebec provincial police revealed Monday that its officers had a seventh journalist under surveillance Nicolas Saillant of the Journal deQubec.

SretduQubecChief MartinPrud'hommerevealed the information about Saillantin his testimony Mondayat thecommission tasked with looking into police surveillance of journalists.

The commission is led byQuebec Court of Appeal Justice JacquesChamberland.

The revelation about Saillant came out of a cross-examination byChristianLeblanc, the lawyer representing a number of news organizations in the province, including CBC / Radio-Canada, before the commission.

Saillantunder surveillance in 2012

Prud'hommesaid the SQ had Saillant under surveillance in 2012, but did not say why, or in what context.

He said he first learned of it on December 20, 2016, and advised the deputy minister for public security the next day.

Prud'hommetoldthe commission that no journalisthad been the target ofsurveillance since he took over as SQ chief in 2014.

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He said the information about Saillantcame out of a review he had ordered that went back 20 years the time period that saw six other journalists under SQ surveillance.

Those journalists were Alain Gravel, Marie-Maude-DenisandIsabelle Richer ofRadio-Canada, Denis LessardandAndr Cdilot ofLa Presse, andricThibault of theJournal de Montral.

No protocols in place

Top provincial police brass who also testified Monday said there were no rules in place before Public Security Minister Martin Coiteux asked for theprocedures to be tightened last fall.

That demand came in the wake of reports that investigators had sought and received call logs from reporters' smartphones in attempts to determine who they were speaking with.

An internal memo from Prud'homme circulated around the force on Nov. 1, three days before tougher rules were established.

Andr Goulet, a chief inspector and director of criminal investigations at the force, testified Monday the note fromPrud'homme prohibited "any investigation, surveillance or verification concerning a journalist unless authorized by a member of the brass in advance."

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The directives also specifically stated that any request for judicial authorization for a surveillance warrant regarding a member of the press must go through the province's Crown attorney's office to be analyzed before being presented to a justice of the peace.

Those same protocols applied to surveillance requests involving lawyers, judges or politicians.

That provincial police had no procedure in place may seem surprising, given the Supreme Court of Canada had already ruled on the importance of the confidentiality of journalistic sources.

Philippe Pichetexpected Tuesday

Thecommission, which got under way last Monday, was created after it was revealed that several police departments had spied on journalists' phone records in an attempt to identify sources speaking to reporters.

Most of the hearings will be public, but the commission also has the option of holdingclosed-door sessions.

Montreal police Chief Philippe Pichetis expected to testify Tuesday.Boththe SQ and Montreal police have confirmed journalists have been the subject of surveillance.

The commissionwas announced lastNovember, afterLaPressecolumnist PatrickLagacrevealed Montreal police had obtainedwarrants from a Quebec justice of the peaceto collectmetadatafrom hiscellphone.

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The warrants allowed police to trackLagac's whereabouts using the GPS chip in his iPhone. Theyalso allowed police to obtain the identities of everyone hespoke to or exchanged text messages with.

Montreal police defended their actions by saying they were investigating an officer who was believed to have been sharing information with Lagac.

MichelCormier,the headof Radio-Canada, told the commission last week the spying scandal has cast a chill on journalistic sources.

"We've had sources who are now very ... nervousthattheir identity will be revealed. Other sources have stopped talking to us," saidCormier.

The commission is due to submit a report in March 2018.