The Progress Report and its parent organization, Progress Alberta, welcome the announcement this week that the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) will be clarifying and formalizing its policies around media inquiries—a concession Progress Alberta has been fighting for since 2022.

EPS headquarters in downtown Edmonton, as photographed by Mack Male. Creative Commons 2.0 // Wikimedia Commons

Progress Alberta has consistently advocated for police transparency and accountability in Alberta. After the founding of the Progress Report in 2019, we continued to pursue this concern through investigative reporting, particularly focusing on the two largest police forces in Edmonton and Calgary. At the time, these story assignments were typically given to Duncan Kinney.

By 2022, Kinney had been working the policing file for nearly three years and had developed a reputation as one of EPS’ most vigorous critics. In March that year he grilled then-EPS chief Dale McFee for answers after the Edmonton Police had failed to enforce noise and mischief bylaws during the appearance of the far-right ‘Freedom Convoy’ in the city.

A week later, EPS revoked our media credentials. Despite our inquiries—and our counsel’s demands for answers—no justification was ever provided.

Councillor Anne Stevenson, who represents Kinney’s ward on city council and who was at the time a member of the Edmonton Police Commission (EPC), also demanded an explanation. In response, another EPC member leveled accusations against Stevenson that she was abusing her authority on the commission.

These allegations were found to be completely without substance when they were eventually reviewed in 2023. However, they were in the meantime used as an excuse to not address our complaint about media access.

A further justification to delay addressing our complaint was found later that year, when Kinney was accused of vandalizing monuments to former Nazi collaborators in Edmonton. At the time, an EPS spokesperson said the review of our complaint would be suspended until the vandalism investigation was complete.

Nearly four years later, Kinney, who denies the charges, has still not had his day in court. The long-running investigation into the vandalization of two statues included 181 hours of police surveillance of Kinney, his home, and his family. EPS and EPC delayed the review of our accreditation so long that Kinney doesn’t even work here any more—he retired from journalism to work in health care last year.

In light of all of that, we are pleased to hear that EPS will finally be required to adopt clear and transparent processes around who can revoke accreditation and why, though we are certainly frustrated that it took so long.

Tom Engel, Kinney’s counsel, told the Report this week that two of the concessions we were able to secure will be helpful for all journalists in Edmonton moving forward. First, EPS has been told that their informal media guidelines—which gave them broad leeway to ban us without cause in 2022—aren’t good enough, and must be replaced with a strict policy document. Second, EPS must clearly identify who in their organization is responsible for deciding on these bans and appeals.

This policy change is only one step towards resolving the lack of transparency at EPS. Concerning stories that highlight the lack of accountability there continue to emerge, including Chief Warren Driechel’s lobbyist-funded tour of Israel that took him to illegal settlements and a recent attempt by EPS to conceal police misconduct records. 

We are grateful to all subscribers, and especially contributors to our legal defense fund, for helping us to secure this reform at the Edmonton Police Service. The vandalism charges against Duncan Kinney remain, however, and his legal expenses are not covered by our fund or liability insurance. Kinney is presently seeking help with these expenses through a GoFundMe accessible through this link.