Canadian Lawyer

12 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m investigative reporter Makuch had with a Calgary man in 2014. The man, Farah Shirdon, left Calgary earlier that year and went to Syria to join ISIS. Shirdon was born in Toronto but lived in Calgary most of his life. There he attended school, developed a circle of friends and, apparently, in his late teens or early twenties, acquired a burning desire to join ISIS. He came to international attention in 2015 when he was featured in an ISIS propaganda video. In it, the bespectacled Shirdon, adopting what high school friends described as "a fake" accent, burned his Canadian passport and said: "We are coming and will destroy you . . . this is a message for Canada and for all America." In the summer of 2014, Makuch wrote and Vice published three articles on home- grown Islamic terrorism based signifi- cantly on Makuch's internet exchange with Shirdon. Shirdon was, understandably, also on the RCMP's radar. In 2015, the Alberta RCMP laid a half dozen terrorism-related charges against Shirdon. At the time, RCMP assistant Alberta commissioner Marlin Degrand said: "Shirdon served in a combat role [as well as] recruiting, fundrais- ing, encouraging others to commit violence, and spreading propaganda — all designed to enhance the activities of the ISIS." At the time, the RCMP discounted reports Shirdon was dead and there is some indication, through the work of Makuch, that Shirdon may still be alive. Whatever the actual case, the RCMP charges against him are still active. In February 2015, acting on an appli- cation by the RCMP, an Ontario judge ordered Vice Media to hand over "certain documents and data pertaining to com- munications with or concerning Farah Shirdon." However, in a deal Vice's lawyer MacKinnon struck with the Crown, "the documents have not been actually handed over; we just have given an undertaking not to delete or destroy them." MacKin- non says if the material was printed out, it would be "a couple of dozen" pages. Those are the practicalities of the issue, but McKinnon is quick to note the larger picture and why this case is being so closely watched. When journalists inter- view people, MacKinnon says, they are not doing it to advance a police investigation. "Once the police start turning to journal- ists to gather information … to support charges, journalists start becoming de facto investigative arms of the police or the state, and that's never a good thing." In the end, McKinnon argues, citi- zens could lose confidence in the inde- pendence of media. Thus, its role as a watchdog and critic of power will be diminished. The counter argument that the Supreme Court will have to weigh is that the public has a right to be protected and that police investigations into wrongdo- ing should not be derailed or delayed when potential proof of wrongdoing is obtained by a citizen, even a reporter. — GEOFF ELLWAND \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ N O RT H \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP B .C., the only province without a human rights commission, is moving forward to restore its disbanded commission with a newly issued 72-page report structuring an independent entity. But, despite the recommenda- tions, B.C. is an estimated year out from an operating commission office. BC Civil Liberties Association executive director Josh Paterson says the gov- ernment would need to introduce new legislation at the earliest opportunity in the spring session and, once passed, would then assemble the office and staff, a process that normally takes a year. "We don't want to see it thrown together," Paterson says, but at the same time, he adds, "we hope it won't be too long" as there are issues "crying out" for attention. (B.C.'s first commission began in 1973 and was disbanded in 1984. It was rekindled and then disbanded again in 2002.) The report recommends that the fully independent commission report directly to the B.C. Legislature, with one commissioner to avoid bureaucracy and the provision of adequate resources to meet the task. The commission would be independent from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal with the tribunal remaining as adjudicator of dis- putes. Paterson says the BCCLA is pleased with the report's 25 recommendations com- piled by Parliamentary Secretary for Sport and Multiculturalism Ravi Kahlon. The government-appointed Kahlon used an extensive public consultation process to gain input into the report and its recommendations. Kahlon says that if B.C. structured a commission as the recommendations envision, it will outpace any commission in Canada. "Ontario's commission is leading right now, but we will be one step above Ontario," he says, as the North- west Territories' commission is the only fully independent Canadian body. B.C. would have the second, but it would also combine attributes from international NEW REPORT URGES INDEPENDENT B.C. HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION Calgary case about seizing notes from Vice reporter goes to SCC Continued from page 11 ONCE THE POLICE START TURNING TO JOURNALISTS TO GATHER INFORMATION TO SUPPORT CHARGES, JOURNALISTS BECOME DE FACTO AGENTS OF THE STATE OR THE POLICE AND THAT'S NEVER A GOOD THING. IAIN MACKINNON, Linden & Associates

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