Edmonton Police Versus Duncan Kinney

Duncan Kinney is an Edmonton-based journalist and editor of a digital publication focused on Alberta politics called The Progress Report.

From scrutinizing police budgets, shining a light on how police handle the city’s unhoused population or drug poisoning crisis and exposing partisan connections between senior officers and Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party, it’s undeniable Kinney plays a role as a critical watchdog of Edmonton Police.

But Kinney has also been a thorn in the side of Edmonton Police Chief Dale McFee. In recent years, McFee has publicly butted heads with Kinney and Kinney accuses Edmonton Police of “arbitrarily” revoking his media accreditation.

Then in 2022, following a massive police surveillance operation involving over a dozen officers watching him and his family for seven months, Kinney was criminally charged with vandalizing a “monument to honour persons who were killed or died in consequence of a war” after the words “actual Nazi” were found spray painted on a statue honouring World War Two Nazi collaborator Roman Shukhevych.

Kinney, who pleads not guilty to the charges, could face up to 10 years in prison if an Alberta court convicts him of vandalizing a statue honouring a leader of a military unit that massacred Jews in Ukraine.

On this episode of Sources, Stephen Magusiak speaks with Progress Report Editor Duncan Kinney (not to be confused with PressProgress, which is a separate news organization) to explain his ongoing saga with Edmonton Police.

Kinney is currently raising funds for his legal defence.