Unifor denounces attack on French staff

January 7, 2015

Today, Canadians woke up to the news of the terrifying attack on the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which killed 12 people and critically injured five others. As the largest media union in Canada, Unifor is outraged by this vicious attack.

Armed men stormed the office of Charlie Hebdo, shooting staff participating in an editorial meeting. Similarly, it suffered an arson attack in 2011, while its website was attacked by hackers that same year, both in response to editorial content.

Among the dead are Stéphane Charbonnier, the magazine’s editor in chief known by his pseudonym and Jean Cabut, a graphic artist known by his pen name .

This is an attack on the institution of journalism and the cherished notion of , as a key tenet of any healthy functioning democracy.

Journalists’ lives must not come under threat because they have the courage and audacity to hold governments, institutions and citizens accountable to the laws and policies that we determine together as a society – for the greater social good.

Attacks on journalists are not isolated events, but the severity of this attack is extreme. Last year there were nine journalists killed through-out Europe. The murderous rampage at Charlie Hebdo has already surpassed this figure. According to the International Federation of Journalists, 118 journalists and media staff were killed in work-related targeted or cross fire incidents in 2014, an increase of 13 killings from the year before. The first known journalist to be killed this year was Khalid Mohammed al Washali, killed only four days into the year, in a roadside bomb blast in Yemen.

French President François Hollande described the attack on Charlie Hebdo as “an act of exceptional barbarity.” It is barbarous as much as it is an affront on our shared values of tolerance, openness, and free debate.

Freedom of the press, including commentary like that of Charlie Hebdo magazine, is vitally necessary to the civil rights and freedoms of us all. It must be protected and cherished.

Unifor represents 13,000 journalists and other media workers in newspapers, broadcasting and printing, and is a member of the International Federation of Journalists.

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