September 26, 2026 — The Independent Press Gallery (IPG) condemns the CBC for reportedly removing veteran newsreader Neil Herland from the air and subjecting him to a disciplinary process. The action followed his reporting on a protest outside a Yom Kippur service in Toronto.
Herland, a CBC Radio journalist for 30 years, attended services held by The Song Shul at the Meridian Arts Centre on Yom Kippur. He documented the protesters gathered outside, who were recorded shouting “Zionist alert” and “You’re going to hell!” through a megaphone. The congregation’s leader has described Herland’s account as “journalistically accurate.”
After the activist group Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) filed a complaint accusing him of “disinformation,” Herland was reportedly pulled off the air and called to a disciplinary hearing.
Recording events in a public place and reporting them to the public is not misconduct. It is journalism.
It is not the role of a public broadcaster to punish its journalists for doing their jobs to appease activist groups. Its role is to defend their right to report.
Neil Herland is not a member of the IPG. But press freedom is not a membership benefit. It belongs to every journalist and every Canadian, as guaranteed by Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The IPG is speaking up for Mr. Herland. We call on his own union, the Canadian Media Guild, as well as the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Parliamentary Press Gallery, to do the same.
Sheila Gunn Reid
President, Independent Press Gallery
info@independentpressgallery.ca