Rebel News journalist David Menzies was arrested on Monday during a memorial service in Richmond Hill commemorating the victims of Flight PS752 for attempting to question Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on a public street.
The police officer who arrested Menzies said it was for assaulting a police officer, which he accused Menzies of doing while walking alongside Freeland.
Menzies was asking Freeland why the Liberal government hasn’t labelled Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist entity.
The arrest unfolded as Menzies was physically obstructed by an unidentified plainclothes police officer who appears to be with the RCMP. Video footage captures the moment when the situation escalates, with Menzies surrounded by officers and eventually escorted away in a police car.
Menzies asks the police officer on two occasions for his name and badge number, but the officer does not provide it.
Menzies told True North he was released later without charges.
“This is what they do to journalists,” Menzies said in the video as he was being escorted away. “I was merely trying to scrum Minister Freeland and the RCMP officer blocked me, and evidently this is a trumped-up charge of assault, folks. I came here to do my job and now I’m handcuffed.”
The arrest was condemned by Andrew Lawton, the president of the Independent Press Gallery of Canada. (Lawton is also True North’s managing editor).
“Police are there to uphold the law and public safety, not to prevent politicians from being asked questions by journalists who the government will not permit to ask questions in official settings,” Lawton said in a statement Monday night.
“The Independent Press Gallery calls on police, particularly those tasked with protecting elected officials, to cease the practice of arresting working journalists who are not posing a threat to public safety or breaking the law.”
This incident marks the second time Menzies has faced difficulties for attempting to question the Trudeau government.
Two years ago, he was accosted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s bodyguards on a public street in Toronto.
Rebel News has drawn attention to the contrasting treatments their journalists receive when compared to pro-Hamas protesters.
While the former faces arrests and physical obstruction, the latter receives police escorts and even coffee deliveries during disruptive activities.
