On this day in ...... 2004 (5 years ago today), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police "search[ed] the home and office of an Ottawa Citizen reporter who has written about the Maher Arar case, looking for evidence of a possible breach of the Security of Information Act," the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. Juliet O'Neill (left) had been covering the story of Arar, who, as we've posted, was transported to Syria after he stopped at a New York airport on his way back home to Canada. In October 2006, citing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Superior Court of Ontario Judge Lynn Ratushny invalidated section 4 of the Act, on which the raid relied as "overbroad vague and open to misuse," "infring[ing] upon O’Neill’s Charter rights to freedom of “expression, including freedom of the press." (Decision here.) There was no appeal of that ruling. (photo credit)
... 1919 (90 years ago today), in Dublin, members of the Dáil Éireann (right), the lower house of Ireland's parliament, met for the 1st time. In 2 short hours, "the Dáil adopted a Constitution," which would take effect in April of the same year, "and approved the Declaration of Independence." (photo credit)
