Afraid of postering because you might get fined? HRM By-Law S-800 is not on your side if you slap posters to telephone poles, but local lawyer Gordon Allen will get your back with legal advice and/or representation for anyone fined for postering.
“If there’s anybody who’s charged with postering, I’d agree to represent them, probably pro bono, because it’s an issue I believe in,” says Allen, who works at Auld Allen Lawyers downtown.
Allen feels that the By-Law, which prohibits postering in all areas but a handful of overcrowded community kiosks approved by the municipality, infringes upon our Charter right to “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.”
Allen’s interest in challenging our postering bylaw was sparked when an RCMP officer and bylaw officer crashed the Evolve Festival, an outdoor community music festival in Antigonish Allen was at in July 2010, looking for festival promoter Jonas Colter. The officers handed Colter 18 tickets for breaking the postering bylaw, leaving him with a total bill of $4,500.
“It kind of rubbed me the wrong way how it happened,” says Allen, pointing out that Colter is environmentally conscious and even takes his own posters down. “It seemed somewhat unjust.”
HRM dropped the charges on the grounds that there was “no reasonable prospect of conviction on the charges before the court.”
“I think they were confident they would lose the case and the law would be struck down,” says Allen, who was disappointed not to get a chance to go to court as he felt he’d prepared a strong case.
Allen’s case against the bylaw
Other Supreme and Provincial court cases have paved the way for anyone who’d like to challenge HRM’s postering bylaw in court. In a 1993 Toronto case, Ramsden v. Peterborough (City), the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously agreed that prohibiting postering on public property violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As postering is protected by the Charter, then any bylaws limiting this right must provide only “reasonable limits” that are minimally restrictive.
Halifax’s By-Law S-800 prohibits people from putting up posters “located within a street right-of-way or on public property.” The By-Law only allows posters on a small number of notice boards and poster poles approved by the municipality (like those located in front of the Halifax Public Library).
In the court documents prepared by Allen, Colter states that the kiosks are few and far between and isolated from those he considers to be his target audience. Posters placed on the kiosks are soon covered up by other posters, making it difficult for those putting up the posters to get their message across to the public. Allen argues that the restriction the bylaw places on Colter “is not minimally restrictive of his guaranteed rights” and is therefore not justified.
Artists say bylaw hurts arts community, tight budgets
Emily Davidson, the artist behind the posters advertising the Fuller Terrace Lecture Series and other community-oriented events in the North End, feels that the city’s postering bylaw harms those promoting events on a shoe string budget.
Despite the threat of fines, Davidson says postering is so effective that she’s not going to stop—she just hopes she won’t get caught. “One of the things that I think is really awesome about posters as a message of advertising is that it’s a really cheap form of advertising,”
“it’s accessible to a lot of people who can’t get their ideas out in other ways,” says Davidson. “When the city says ‘no, you can’t poster,’ through that bylaw, they’re just making it harder for artists to get their message out.”
“Every idea in society starts somewhere. And Martin Luther started up the Protestant Reformation by tacking up a bill on a church,” says Allen. “Unless you have the resources to advertise in mainstream media, which is often controlled by ‘certain interests,’ or own property and put up a big billboard, how do you get your idea out?”
“Public space is our space and it’s good that people freely express themselves. That’s how society advances.”
