Every time there’s a protest, or dispute, or anything else newsworthy in rural Canada, the media shows up to cover it. And runs into the RCMP. Sometimes, nothing happens. But more often than not, access to the story becomes a story in itself, with the RCMP insisting media aren’t allowed in, or offering access only to “accredited media”. You can imagine where this leads, and probably guess that Indigenous journalists have born the brunt of it.

But this time, when the RCMP attempted to stop journalists from access the site of a protest against old-growth forest logging near Port Renfrew, B.C., the media went to court. What happens next will go a long way to determining who gets access to protests attempting to stop natural resource extraction in rural areas, and other contentious issues that happen far away from big cities…

GUEST: Brent Jolly, President, Canadian Association of Journalists

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