Dear Premier Campbell,

On behalf of the Writers’ Union of Canada, I wish to record our strong objection to perceived attempts to censor and stifle the right to express dissenting views regarding the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

On November 26, 2009 U.S. reporter Amy Goodman was detained by Canadian Border Services Agency, Pacific Region, while attempting to enter Canada to give a book promotional speech at the Vancouver Public Library. Ms. Goodman was repeatedly interrogated as to whether she was planning to speak about the Winter Olympics. She was photographed, control documents were stapled to her passport, and her vehicle and computer were searched.

This treatment of a distinguished American journalist has damaged Canada in the eyes of the world.

Earlier this year I was compelled to write with regard to intimidating behaviour on the part of the Integrated Securities Unit (ISU) while interviewing Dr. Chris Shaw, the author of Five Ring Circus: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games. Now, as then, The Writers’ Union of Canada requests a formal assurance that the freedom of writers and journalists to criticize the Canadian Olympics will be respected, as befits the guarantees outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Erna Paris
Chair, The Writers’ Union of Canada