Juliet O'Neill is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

journalist who was the subject of controversy when the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

raided her house in 2004 in an attempt to find the source of an alleged internal leak giving her access to privileged documents related to the Maher Arar case.

Career

In 1986, O'Neill was working for the

Canadian Press The Canadian Press (CP; french: La Presse canadienne, ) is a Canadian national news agency headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Established in 1917 as a vehicle for the time's Canadian newspapers to exchange news and information, The Canadian Pre ...

newswire, when she caught international attention for being the only reporter to capture

Sondra Gotlieb Sondra Gotlieb (née Kaufman; 30 December 1936 in Winnipeg, Manitoba)Sondra Gotlieb
in ...

slapping her social

secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

Connie Gibson Connor at a state dinner held to honour Canadian Prime Minister

Brian Mulroney Martin Brian Mulroney ( ; born March 20, 1939) is a Canadian lawyer, businessman, and politician who served as the 18th prime minister of Canada from 1984 to 1993. Born in the eastern Quebec city of Baie-Comeau, Mulroney studied political sci ...

and US Vice President

George H.W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; p ...

. In 2004, she was a reporter with the ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' at the time of the raid, and she had earlier served as a foreign correspondent in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

.Those Were the Days , Taddle Creek , www.taddlecreekmag.com

House raid

On January 21, 2004 the

raided her house as part of an attempt to identify the leak. During the raid, police seized notebooks, files, hard drives and other materials. In November 2004, Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny ruled that the sealing of the search warrants was unacceptable, although

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

Richard Sculthorpe had given approval after the RCMP invoked the Security of Information Act. Justice Ratushny stated that the sealing of the search violated guarantees of a free press, freedom of expression and the publics right to an open court system. She ordered that a redacted copy be released to the public. In October 2006, Ontario Superior Court Judge Ratushny struck down Section 4 of the Security of Information Act, ruling that it was "unconstitutionally vague" and broad and an infringement of freedom of expression. All materials seized from O'Neill were ordered returned. O'Neill was represented by attorneys Rick Dearden and Wendy Wagner from

Gowlings Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP (Gowlings) was a Canadian and international law firm, with about 700 legal professionals in 10 offices in Canada and as well as London, Moscow, and Beijing. The firm offered legal support in business law, advocacy/lit ...

a law firm with offices in Ottawa.

Awards and honors

In 1996 O'Neill was awarded a Southam Fellowship. In 2005 she was honored with th
World Press Freedom Award
In 2009 she was honored with the

Charles Lynch Award The Charles Lynch Award is an annual award presented to a Canadian journalist in recognition of outstanding coverage of national issues as selected by their colleagues in the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery. The award is presented each year at ...

for Outstanding Coverage of National Affairs.Ottawa Citizen report on 2009 Charles Lynch Award
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References

External links

Juliet O'Neill's website1996 article she wrote on landmines
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Juliet Canadian women journalists Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women non-fiction writers