Guelph reporter questions ‘overreach of authority’ after OPP officer detained him, seized camera | CBC News

A Guelph, Ont., journalist says he was detained and had his camera seized by an OPP officer while covering a fatal traffic collision Wednesday morning.

Richard Vivian, a senior reporter for the website GuelphToday, arrived at the scene of the collision on the Hanlon Expressway in Guelph at around 9 a.m. A 65-year-old woman from Guelph had been hit and was pronounced dead at scene. 

He said the road was blocked off by police signs and pylons but the sidewalk remained unobstructed.

“With the apparent free flow of pedestrian traffic, I walked up and raised my camera and shot a couple of frames,” Vivian told CBC. “Within a couple of seconds of me getting there, a police officer yelled at me to stop taking photos.”

Vivian said the officer walked over and grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket, controlling his arm.

“I told him to let me go. He said no. He told me he was seizing the camera,” Vivian said. “Before I gave him the camera, he informed me I was detained.”

Vivian added, “I did pause for a couple of seconds because I was quite taken aback by the situation, but I did relent.”

Vivian said the officer gave him no specific reason for being detained and he was released 15 minutes later. He said the officer returned the camera to him, but kept the SD card where the photos he had taken would be stored.

“[The officer] told me it was being taken under the Coroners Act as evidence in their investigation,” Vivian said.

Vivian said he has concerns for what he calls “the overreach of authority” displayed by the officer Wednesday morning.

“I definitely don’t see the value in … obstructing news media,” he said. 

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the advoacy group Canadian Association of Journalists said “the officer’s conduct is an egregious abuse of power and a blatant violation of press freedom.”

The OPP put out a statement on X Wednesday evening. The statement says the OPP is reviewing the circumstances of the interaction between a member of the media and the OPP investigator.

In an emailed statement, Ontario’s Chief Coroner’s office said that while they cannot comment on specific investigations, they “understand and respect the concerns that have been brought to our attention and will conduct an review to ensure proper processes were followed.”

The spokesperson also said coroners “have the authority to seize anything the coroner has reasonable grounds to believe is material to the purposes of the investigation.”

Vivian says he has not been informed as to when the SD card will be returned.