Court says reporter went too far in infiltrating sect

TORONTO (RNS) A Quebec court has ruled that a journalist’s undercover investigation of the Raelian sect in the province violated the privacy of its members. The court awarded $9,000 Cdn ($7,688 US) in damages to two Raelians who said they had suffered embarrassment and loss of revenue after being identified as senior figures close to […]

TORONTO (RNS) A Quebec court has ruled that a journalist’s undercover investigation of the Raelian sect in the province violated the privacy of its members.

The court awarded $9,000 Cdn ($7,688 US) in damages to two Raelians who said they had suffered embarrassment and loss of revenue after being identified as senior figures close to sect leader Claude Vorilhon, who goes by the name Rael.

The case goes back to 2003 when Brigitte McCann, a reporter for the Journal de Montreal, spent nine months undercover as a member of the Raelians. Her articles won Quebec’s top journalism prize and exposed a darker side to the sect, which claims 55,000 followers worldwide who believe in UFOs and that humans have been cloned.


McCann reported that Vorilhon believes he has been targeted for assassination by the CIA, demands generous contributions from followers and that his entourage includes “angels” prepared to die to protect him.

Quebec Court Judge Charles Grenier ruled that the newspaper was not justified in infiltrating the Raelians because information about the sect was publicly available. And he suggested that an undercover press investigation of the sect leads to a slippery slope.

“If the activities of a group or organization are legal and of a private nature, what can justify the use of so-called clandestine investigation methods in the name of the public right to information?” Judge Grenier asked. “The non-conformity of ideas and activities? Their bizarreness? Their occult character? General disapproval? And what else?”

The judge found that the publication of the plaintiffs’ pictures and personal information infringed their right to privacy. Their identities were not made public.

A woman who is a member of Vorilhon’s inner circle of “angels” said her practice as a psychologist suffered after she was publicly identified as a high-ranking Raelian, and was awarded $7,000 in damages.

The other plaintiff, a general contractor, was identified by the newspaper as president of a company on whose land the Raelians’ UFOLand headquarters is located, northeast of Montreal. He was awarded $2,000.


In a statement, the Raelians called for the revocation of McCann’s prize and said they would soon “demonstrate their joy” at the ruling in front of the offices of the Journal de Montreal.

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