The sign reads: “Respect private spaces. No unauthorized audio or video recording.”
And it’s situated in the middle of a public greenspace.
Well, a greenspace that hosts a homeless encampment.
The signage was erected last week at the PUC property on Grand Avenue East in Chatham, where an encampment of tents went up in mid-July.
Seeing this sign has led to an uproar on social media by some members of the public.
However, signs can say so much, yet also so little.
We understand the public being offended by such a sign. It appears pretty demanding for people to put their cameras away at a spot that happens to house walking paths and soccer fields. Are you supposed to not take pictures of your kids playing soccer? Or of your husband or wife pushing your child in a stroller?
Keep snapping away, folks. We’re behind you 100 per cent on that.
As journalists, we know that anything you can see with the naked eye from and into a public space is open season in terms of still-image or video capturing.
In terms of the homeless encampment, it is our take on the matter that if you capture images of the exterior of the tents, there is no Charter violation taking place. It’s what you can see from a public space.
However, shooting video while purposefully walking through the encampment, opening tent flaps to shoot inside a tent, that’s a different matter.
According to Dave Taylor, Chatham-Kent’s deputy CAO and head solicitor, the signage was installed in an attempt to give encampment occupants some element of respect.
“It’s really trying to respect the privacy that you would hope unhoused persons would have with having to live in a tent,” he told The Voice. “There’s a question over a reasonable expectation of privacy. Let’s not have people taking pictures inside a tent.”
A reminder that not all homeless are criminals, nor is every one of them an addict. And even if they have been convicted of a crime and are addicted to illicit drugs, they still have rights.
Our Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a blanket item. It covers everyone.
Even those who don’t have a home of their own.
