Weekend reads: Are we arresting media now?
Another illiberal moment for Canada
On Monday, a disturbing story broke in Canada — the latest in a string of illiberal developments to make headlines over the past few years. In Richmond Hill, Ontario, as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was entering an event, David Menzies of Rebel News approached her, asked several foreign policy questions, and was subsequently arrested for assault.
The video of the altercation has now been viewed millions of times. It’s garnered international media attention, and — remarkable for the polarized moment that we’re in in this country — has also been covered in the mainstream media here, with CBC’s Power & Politics devoting a full 16 minutes to the optics of the incident.
Toronto Star columnist Andrew Phillips, meanwhile, called the arrest an absurd overreach. “Menzies is a journalist — not my kind of journalist, for sure, but a journalist nonetheless,” he wrote. “You can despise Rebel News for its right-wing slant and Menzies for his deliberately provocative tactics, but that’s no justification for trampling on his rights. Even if he doesn’t fit your definition of ‘journalist,’ those rights still stand.”
The incident occurred at an event to mark the fourth anniversary of the Ukrainian International Airlines flight from Tehran that was shot down by Iranian missiles, killing 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents on board. In the video clip of the altercation, when Menzies approached Freeland, he asked why Canada had not included the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the designated terrorist list. Freeland declined to answer. An officer then appeared to walk into his path and the pair briefly collided. The officer shoved Menzies up against a wall, accused Menzies of pushing him, and placed him under arrest for assault.
York Regional Police told press that it had assisted in the arrest, made by an RCMP security detail. “It was determined that no credible security threat existed, and the subject was released unconditionally after,” it noted. The RCMP is now reviewing the incident and all parties involved.
Freeland, a former journalist who has championed press freedom in the past, was asked about the arrest on Thursday, at a housing event in Toronto. She told the Canadian Press reporter that Canada is a rule-of-law country. “Canada is a democracy,” Freeland said. “Operational decisions about law enforcement are taken by the police of jurisdiction. Quite appropriately, political elected officials have no role in the taking of those decisions, and that’s why I don’t have any further comment.”
Media reports have pointed out that Menzies has had police interactions in the past, including an incident with Justin Trudeau’s protective detail in 2021, an incident involving Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman that same year, and an incident at a campaign event for then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer in 2019.
Rebel News has announced that it plans to take legal action on this arrest.
Meanwhile, politicians from both the left and the right have reacted. The Conservative Party shadow minister for civil liberties, Marilyn Gladu, released a statement calling for the House’s Heritage Committee to be recalled from winter break to investigate. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre tweeted, “This is the state of freedom of the press. In Canada. In 2024. After 8 years of Trudeau.” And Ujjal Dosanjh, former NDP premier of British Columbia, and former Liberal member of parliament, denounced the arrest. “I’m no fan of Rebel Media but the police conduct is disgusting, despicable and legally actionable,” he posted on X. “This is not the Canada I chose to make my home.”
There are several objections to taking this story seriously that are circulating, all of which turn out, on closer inspection, to be unconvincing.
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