Eyes Everywhere: The Legalities of Public Surveillance in Canada

With the general shrinking of technology Cameras are smaller and easier to install than ever before. Because of this video surveillance has become much more prevalent with people making use of surveillance cameras for all sorts of situations. This does call into question how legal it is to engage in public surveillance and in what situations you can legitimately utilize surveillance cameras. That’s why in today’s blog we will be looking at the legalities of public surveillance in Canada.

PIPEDA

The main Canadian privacy regulation that concerns public surveillance is the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. This act primarily applies to how organizations and businesses can ethically utilize surveillance and what information they are allowed to retain and disclose. It is important to note that PIPEDA doesn’t really apply to individuals making video records for private use. However, just because PIPEDA and other similar provincial acts do not apply does not mean that there aren’t other criminal laws that do apply. Two of the main criminal laws that apply in regards to surveillance are national laws against Voyeurism and laws against the Interception of Private Communications.

Voyeurism

Voyeurism specifically refers to conducting surveillance of an individual where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy such as on their own property, in a washroom or in a changing room. So, if you are setting up surveillance cameras in your home it is important that you exclude as much public space and as much of your neighbor’s property as possible, just to ensure that you aren’t infringing on a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Interception of Private Communications

This primarily refers to audio recordings made of private conversations. In Canada it is illegal to make recordings of private conversations without the consent of those being recorded. This is obviously a concern if a surveillance camera is also capable of recording audio so you should be careful about how your home surveillance cameras are set up so that they do not record private communications.

We hope we have been able to clear up some of the legalities of public surveillance in Canada. If you have any questions about surveillance cameras and the legalities of using them please feel free to speak to our knowledgeable and friendly staff.

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If you have any questions about this article or would like to talk to us about security or surveillance equipment, please contact us.