On Monday, April.15th, our lead journalist Savanna Craig was arrested while covering a protest that was part of the “Day of Action to Free Palestine” at a Scotiabank near the McGill campus in Montreal.
Activists were blockading Scotiabank to protest their investments in Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems Ltd.
Savanna was arrested despite repeatedly identifying herself as press.
She was clearly identified as a journalist. She complied with police requests to move, and continued documenting the action. She showed several officers her press pass, and was carrying equipment marked as the property of CUTV. At one point, a higher-ranking officer was consulted by phone and told about her press credentials. That official, knowing she was a journalist, ordered the officers on the scene to move forward with the arrest and charges.
This incident is likely a violation of Section 7 of Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and an example of a bigger problem in Canada. In a variety of situations, police have arrested freelance journalists working for smaller publications covering protests and mobilizations.
Savanna is the second journalist to be arrested in Canada this year while doing their job. In January 2024, journalist Brandi Morin was arrested and charged in Alberta while covering a police raid on a homeless encampment.
The coalition Women Press Freedom (WPF) has denounced the arrest and publicly advocated for the charges to be dropped, as they did with Brandi. The press freedoms advocacy group has documented the trend of police violating the press freedoms of women journalists in Canada.
According to WPF, Savanna is the fifth woman journalist to have been arrested in Canada since 2020.
Journalists have the right to document important, newsworthy events in Montreal. Without this documentation, residents of Montreal will be less informed about their own city. The SPVM should immediately cease this practice and comply with Canadian law and international norms.
As a small media outlet, we are putting out this statement to do everything in our power to ensure that Savanna Craig does not face criminal charges, and to raise awareness on the threats to the freedom of journalists in Montreal, and the larger Canadian trend it echoes. We need public support to help draw awareness to this issue, and to ensure that Savanna’s arrest does not go unnoticed.
We also hope to apply public pressure not only on behalf of Savanna Craig and her unlawful arrest, but also in the hopes of ensuring that other independent journalists do not face the same treatment. Savanna’s arrest could set a precedent for how the police interact with the press.
To support Savanna Craig and CUTV, please share this statement in your networks. We must not remain silent and complicit while the SPVM arrests journalists for doing their jobs!
Savanna has received statements of support from The Coalition for Women in Journalism, the Canadian Association of Journalists, and previously-arrested journalists Brandi Morin, Aaron Lakoff, and Justin Brake.
