Peter Jacobsen named CFE Senior Fellow

The Centre for Free Expression is pleased to announce that Peter Jacobsen has been named a Senior Fellow of the Centre. Peter is one of Canada’s top media and defamation lawyers, with a long history of championing freedom of expression.

Peter successfully represented two criminologists before the Quebec Superior Court to oppose the seizure of their work product by the Montreal police on the basis that the documents are protected by researcher-participant confidentiality privilege (Parent c. R., 2014 QCCS 132). This was the first time the researcher-participant confidentiality privilege was recognized by a Canadian court.

He has appeared in several significant cases at the Supreme Court of Canada including Cusson v. Quan, 2009 SCC 62 (responsible journalism defence) and R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16 (journalist-source confidentiality privilege). He successfully defended the Globe and Mail and one of its journalists in resisting an application which sought disclosure of certain confidential unnamed sources quoted in an article about the BCE takeover transaction (1654776 Ontario Ltd. v. Stewart and The Globe and Mail, 2013 ONCA 184 ).

He has also participated in other pivotal cases that have advanced freedom of expression in Canada involving libel issues, free press rights, access to courts, publication bans, sealing orders and subpoenas to journalists and editors.

Peter is a founding partner of the firm Bersenas Jacobsen Chouest Thomson Blackburn LLP in Toronto and is a member of the Board of the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression.