Tara Singh Hayer

Over the summer, as a book I’d written about the lives of murdered journalists went to press, a crusading human rights reporter from the Russian republic of Chechnya was shot dead. I was not surprised by the details of her murder, just as the Chechen reporter was not surprised she’d become a target for execution: Like all the journalists in my book, Natalya Estemirova had known she would probably be murdered.

Press freedom is generally respected in Canada, and CPJ does not routinely monitor conditions in the country. However, police harassment of journalists covering demonstrations; investigations into past violent attacks against journalists; and proposed anti-terrorism legislation were all issues of concern last year.

PRESS FREEDOM IS GENERALLY RESPECTED IN CANADA, and CPJ does not routinely monitor press conditions in the country. However, CPJ was greatly alarmed by the September 13 shooting of Michel Auger, a veteran crime reporter with the French-language daily Le Journal de Montréal, and sent a letter to Florent Gagné, general director of the Quebec Provincial Police, urging him to pursue the investigation.

During his long career as a crime reporter, Auger had specialized in covering turf battles among Quebec's motorcycle gangs. On September 12, he reported that the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang and the local Mafia were purging themselves of troublesome elements. At year's end, the investigation into the attempted assassination had unearthed evidence implicating the Hell's Angels.

Purewal, editor and publisher of Punjabi-language newspaper Desh Pardesh, was shot and killed near his newspaper's office in London's Southall neighborhood. Desh Pardesh is Britain's largest circulation Punjabi-language newspaper. Purewal supported a Sikh homeland but was critical of the tactics employed by some to achieve this end.

In 1998, Tara Singh Hayer the publisher of the Punjabi-language Indo-Canadian Times, was shot dead in the garage of his home. He too had been an outspoken critic of violent Sikh fundamentalism both in Canada and India. In a 1998 letter to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, CPJ wrote these two murders suggest possible coordinated action to silence Sikh journalists who criticize fundamentalism.