Jeff Monaghan

Jeffrey Monaghan (born c.1980) is an environmental and social justice activist from Ottawa, Canada. Monaghan gained national notoriety after being arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a result of an investigation into the leaking of confidential government environmental plans to environmentalists and the media. The leak occurred 10 days before Canada's official announcement of its intention to abandon international obligations under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Arrest and aftermath
On May 9th, 2007, Monaghan was arrested from his workplace for allegations of "breach of trust" and leaking private documents, but was later released the same day. Monaghan had been working as a contract employee in the communications department of Environment Canada, where his duties typically included media monitoring and internal communications. He later declared himself a victim of a "witch hunt" and maintained his innocence in the involvement of leaks to the press. Monaghan later responded to media reports of him being an anarchist with a letter to the editor. He stated the he "at no time" identified himself as an anarchist and that although he shares many of the same ideals, he eschews "labels and identity politics."

The national executive vice-president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada Patty Ducharme criticized the arrest, saying that "Monaghan's arrest was the first time she had ever heard of a public servant in Canada being escorted out of the workplace in handcuffs". The arrest also renewed concerns among critics about the lack of independence of the RCMP from government, despite insistence from the RCMP and Environment Canada that the complaint was issued from the deputy minister and not the Prime Minister's or Enivronment Minister John Baird's office.

Baird defended the police investigation into possible breaches of the public service code of ethics. "I don't think that there's any suggestion that this was involving a whistleblower, if someone on an unauthorized basis leaked some sensitive information anonymously," Baird told reporters.

In May 2008 Monaghan released documents that showed the RCMP national security branch, INSET, investigated him as a "Person of Interest". The anti-terrorism investigation was initiated in relation to imagery from his punk band, The Suicide Pilots, and his anarchist associations.

Personal life
Monaghan performs in the punk rock band Suicide Pilots under the name of "Bones" and has also helped to found an anarchist bookstore in Ottawa called Exile.

Awards
He was given an environmental award in 2004 for founding a student-run food collective at Carleton University called the Garden Spot.