Press freedoms, from Montréal to Gaza

In February 2025, 60 journalists in Québec working at different media outlets signed a petition addressed to the Professional Journalists Federation of Québec (FPJQ) calling on the professional association that represents them to denounce Israel’s violations of press freedoms in Gaza. Similar demands have been made of professional associations in Montreal and Quebec. This March, nearly 500 Quebecois doctors signed an open letter addressed to their professional associations to denounce the crisis in Gaza. Many workers in the province are calling for action from their professional organizations.

The petition to the FPJQ was initiated at Pivot, a Montréal-based outlet. In today’s interview, I spoke to Lea Beaulieu-Kratchanov, who works at Pivot and helped to co-author an editorial in response to the FPJQ’s refusal of the petition's demands.
In our conversation, Léa Beaulieu-Kratchanov highlights growing threats, including censorship, legal restrictions, and violence against journalists. That an affront to the rights of press freedoms anywhere threatens press freedoms everywhere.

The editorial in Pivot titled “Gaza, the decisive test of press freedoms” considers the FPJQ’s refusal of the petition’s demands incredibly “troubling”. Beaulieu-Kratchanov points out that the FPJQ has previously supported press freedoms in Ukraine.

This refusal to denounce the violations of press freedoms and life marks a troubling silence on what lives the FPJQ deems defendable.
The FPJQ has not responded to our queries. In their response to the petition, they said they believe this rights work is in the domain of other institutions, like Reporters without Borders, rather than the FPJQ.