Court rules that Anarchopanda can keep his head

Montreal has a controversial bylaw, P-6, that bans masked protesters in a demonstration and also demands that organizers of any protest file a route of the demonstration with police for it to be legal.

Quebec Superior Court Justice, Chantal Masse, struck down the mask restriction entirely. On the issue of filing a route the justice said that if the demonstration was planned and people were invited a route had to be filed but if the demonstration were spontaneous it was not feasible to file such a route. The bylaw banning masks was passed several years ago on May 18, 2012.

The former Montreal mayor, Gerald Tremblay, introduced P-6 after weeks of protest after the Charest Liberal Quebec provincial government planned to raise university fees. Masks and covered faces were becoming common and protests were often violent. Fines for breaking rules were increased under P-6.

In a protest the following year Anarchopanda, the informal mascot of the 2012 protest, lost his head, which was seized by police. The protests were in part fueled by the new bylaw. The person in the Panda costume, Julien Villeneuve, was fined:The man under the costume, a philosophy professor at the Maisonneuve College, received two $637 fines after he was caught in a kettle — a police manoeuvre to control protesters.A few days later, Villeneuve launched a fund-raising campaign, "Pandaction", to fight the bylaw, a campaign which led ultimately to the ruling that Anarchopanda could keep his head during demonstrations. The protesters won in a separate case as well in which the protesters challenged the right of the city to use the Highway Safety Code to prevent demonstrations.

Villeneuve said he was delighted at the court ruling and said he was optimistic that many protesters still facing stiff fines under the bylaw would see their cases dropped. Villeneuve said he thought that the costume would actually calm tensions with the police. Villeneuve said: "It's a lot easier for a panda to pacify than just a random dude walking in the streets." He said that there good reasons to wear a mask at a protest. Some protesters fear repercussions at their workplace if seen at a demonstration and others fear how recognition might affect their personal life.

Montreal Mayor, Denis Coderre, said he had not yet read the decision. He said that everyone had the right to freedom of expression but wearing a mask and providing authorities with an itinerary of a protest route have nothing to do with that right. He claimed he could not say whether the City of Montreal would appeal the ruling.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/odd+news/anarchopanda-wins-legal-battle-in-quebec-court-to-keep-his-head/article/468415#ixzz4DINTQ9Tb

Canadian complaints about airport security

The Canadian Broadcasting News(CBC) filed an Access to Information request for complaints sent to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.

It turned up hundreds of interesting stories as to what has happened at Canadian airports.  CATSA is responsible for security screening of people and baggage, and also the administration of identity cards, at all Canadian civil airports.

In a case last October an observer said he had seen a dog in a carrier go through X-ray screening equipment. He said no one stopped the elderly man from putting the dog in a  carrier on the conveyor belt.

When the dog emerged on the other side an officer berated the old man. The witness asked to speak to the officer's supervisor who allegedly refused and also would not give the witness the number of the CATSA complaint line.

A man with a packaged drone in his bag questioned why screeners wanted him to power up his machine. He complained that Transport Canada rules state that drones should not be flown close to airports. They did not ask him to fly the drone however!

Another person reported that he had made it through security with an electric knife, two blades and a meat fork in his carry-on luggage. He said he was shocked that these dangerous items made it through security and thought that CATSA should know.

Some problems arise because of lack of clarity in the rules. One passenger complained that his cheese wedges were deemed to be a gel. Gels are banned. Another passenger had the same thing happen with his shaving soap. He had even opened the jar and pressed hard on it to prove it was like a bar of soap.

A retired social worker in British Columbia was stopped from boarding his plane after his artificial hip set off a metal detector at the Northwest Regional Airport near his home at Terrace B.C. He told the lady that he had an artificial hip.

Her response: 'You're not going to be able to board this flight. You can't take this flight. You have to be patted down by male CATSA staff and one is not available.'"  There were no male staff on duty so he missed his flight and had to take one later when a male was on duty. CATSA apologized to him and said that there were actually procedures in place to deal with such a situation. Too bad the employees did not know about it!

A recent controversy concerns  the treatment of Manitoba Grand Chief Derek Nepinak. He complained that security staff at Ottawa International Airport mishandled sacred objects in his carry-on luggage. A sacred bundle of ceremonial tobacco and a pipe were opened during a security check after they had passed through the x-ray machine.

Apparently, the staff wanted to examine the bowl more closely. He had insisted to a female security guard that she was not allowed to touch the bundle. A male guard came and opened the bundle even though Nepinak was uncomfortable with his doing so. They took apart the pipe. CATSA is investigating the incident.

Considering that 57 million passengers during the 2014-15 the number of complaints seems relatively small. CATSA notes that it struggles with funding as there is a steady increase in the number of people travelling by air.