Josh Dehaas: When the public needed info on Wainwright, a journalist was prevented from getting it

On Saturday evening, news started circulating about a serious fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright in Alberta. Defence Minister David McGuinty gave a rare Saturday evening statement confirming that there had been injuries and deaths, but he didn’t say much more. Like many Canadians, I went to bed Saturday night thinking about the soldiers’ friends and families who would be worried sick and desperate to know more details.

On Sunday morning, I turned on CBC News Network to find out what happened. It had nothing new. Neither did CTV News Channel. This bothered, but didn’t surprise, me. Canada’s traditional media is a shell of its former self. I know from experience.

Several years ago, when I worked there, it might have been me in the CTV national newsroom in Toronto when the news came through on a Saturday night. I would have been overseeing the national website with a single online writer, and there would have been only a handful of producers, writers and reporters on the TV side.

There likely wouldn’t have been a single national reporter in Alberta on the weekend. There was only one such reporter and she didn’t work seven days a week. There would also only have been a few bodies in the local stations in Edmonton and Calgary. If anything, there are fewer now.

Without reporters on the ground, government officials remain in control of the narrative. Their tendency is to keep all information secret until they’re certain that it won’t make them look bad — or until a reporter finds out the truth through unofficial sources and the government can no longer deny it.

While it would be disrespectful to publish the names of the soldiers who died before their families were informed, the public has a right to know basic facts about what happened as soon as government knows them.

By Sunday morning, we had a right to know the suspected cause of the fire, what burned, how many people were sent to hospital and how many had died. These questions are necessary for holding government accountable and deeply important for the friends and families of the victims.

Prime Minister Carney provided some answers in a Sunday morning news conference, but even then, we were left mostly in the dark.

With nearly zero information on CBC or CTV’s news channels on Sunday morning, I turned to X instead. One of the first things I saw was footage filmed by Calgary-based independent journalist Mocha Bezirgan, who dropped what he was doing and drove to Wainwright to report from the scene.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, Bezirgan reported that he saw four ambulances go by in the direction of Edmonton. He conducted an interview at 5 a.m. with a McDonald’s drive-thru employee, who couldn’t confirm anything but added important colour. He also had footage from outside the base. Bezirgan didn’t have much, but he had more than CTV or CBC. He was actually there, seeking out answers.

Here’s the crazy thing. Bezirgan should have been able to seek those answers at the local hospital. He certainly shouldn’t get in the way, but he should be able to walk onto the property and talk to people who may have first-hand information about what occurred.

He should be able to observe whether the emergency room was full or empty. He should be able to speak to nurses who may be able to confirm how many people had died, been transferred to Edmonton or were in intensive care.

Despite beating traditional media to the scene, Bezirgan couldn’t do that essential reporting because he’s been banned from all Alberta Health Services (AHS) property for one year, simply because he attempted to interview a doctor at a hospital after his shift.

Bezirgan’s banishment should outrage anyone who thinks public institutions need to be held accountable. There is simply no good reason for the ban. We suspect that AHS is simply trying to hide an embarrassing news story from the public.

Here’s what happened. Earlier this year, Bezirgan got a tip about a baby who died after being sent home by a doctor at Beaverlodge hospital, near Grande Prairie, Alta. Bezirgan investigated the doctor’s medical qualifications, which he purported to have received in Africa.

Bezirgan tried to contact the doctor through calls and emails to his clinic. When he received no response, he went to South Africa to confirm the details. Although we have not independently confirmed the details, the report, which he pushed out to his multi-platform social media following, is shocking. It’s the type of report you might have seen in the traditional media before budgets for investigative reporting were killed.

Naturally, Bezirgan wanted an interview with the doctor. He also had a legal obligation to try. So he drove for many hours to the Beaverlodge hospital in March, entered the emergency room and asked a nurse whether he could speak with the doctor at the end of his shift. The nurse said the doctor did not wish to speak with him, but the visit prompted a short phone call from the doctor.

When Bezirgan returned on July 26 to try again, he was handed a trespass notice, which states that he has been banned from all Alberta Health Services properties for one year, except in emergencies or with pre-approval.

Bezirgan could face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000 for stepping foot onto hospital property to practice his journalism. The Canadian Constitution Foundation is representing Bezirgan in challenging the trespass notice, including on the basis that it violates his freedom of expression and press freedom, and was procedurally unfair.

Plucky independent journalists like Bezirgan haven’t been able to replace the reporting power the traditional media has lost, yet they’re doing vital work uncovering potential scandals and keeping us informed when tragedies like the incident at Wainwright occur. They need our support.

National Post

Josh Dehaas is interim litigation director at the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a charity dedicated to defending Canadians’ rights and freedoms. Canadians who want to support Bezirgan can sign a petition at TheCCF.ca demanding that AHS rescind its ban.