George Orwell ‘would turn over in his grave’
By Christine Boyd
Controversial surveillance cameras that some people fear might be used to videotape protesters at the Human Rights Monument and Festival Place have yet to be installed, although they were scheduled to be in place by Christmas.
Budget delays and winter weather – not protests from civil libertarians who claim the cameras invade privacy – have delayed their setup for several months, said Bob Gauvreau, the city’s manager of corporate security.
The two closed-circuit television cameras are part of a $150,000 security upgrade approved in November that includes mounting 15 cameras mostly inside and outside city hall.
Critics have protested that the two cameras infringe upon the rights to free speech and free assembly because human rights activists, unions, student organizations and other groups regularly rally at the monument.
But Gauvreau says the issue has been blown out of proportion.
He says the camera near the Human Rights Monument is meant to monitor the southwest side of the building and would not be very effective as a tool to track protesters.
“We’d have to have a special type of camera to look through the marble,” he said. “What we want to see is the entrance to the building, not the Human Rights Monument.”
His security team needs to monitor the doorway because people have spray-painted graffiti, slept there or left behind needles and human feces, he said
There aren’t enough people to watch the grounds all the time, Gauvreau said.
Two years ago, an unknown prankster twisted the lawn sprinklers so they sprayed people walking along the sidewalk on Elgin Street, he said.
But Bay Ward Coun. Alex Cullen said Gauvreau is “begging the question” by claiming security concerns justify the cameras.
Cullen tried to persuade city council to reject the two cameras but his motion was rejected in mid-November.
He said he understands the need to protect citizens and public property, but said concerns over the cameras shouldn’t be easily dismissed because they violate the principles of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“Some people may think this is trivial and ask, ‘Why are these people worried? What have they got to hide?’ But those are the wrong questions for any democrat to ask,” he said.
“People have the right to free association and we have no cause to justify invading their privacy. We should not be putting a chill on these people.”
Lawrence Greenspon, an Ottawa lawyer who helped plan and fundraise for the monument, said he’s outraged by the plans.
He said George Orwell, who created a prototype for government surveillance in his classic novel 1984, would “turn over in his grave” if he knew Canada’s capital city planned to keep an electronic eye on citizens at the Human Rights Monument.
The monument was the site of a media conference during the G-20 protest last November. There are fears the cameras would be used to monitor so-called ‘radicals’ at similar events.
Protestors who rally at the monument do not yet have to fear being monitored by the police. The security cameras, however, should be installed within the upcoming months.
“If it wasn’t so sad, it’d be funny,” Greenspon said.
“I think Jerry Seinfeld could broadcast a whole show, you know, Live from the Human Rights Monument.”