Summary of various canadian perspectives and laws: http://ambientlight.ca/laws.shtml
Exerpts from the above:
NEWSWORTHY PHOTOS:
Regardless of province, you may photograph and publish a photo of anyone, with the exception of young offenders, as long as the subject is newsworthy, doing newsworthy things, or are public figures or celebrities. Additionally, photos including people who are not the principal subject(s) of the photo, but instead make up the background do not have any say in what you do with the photograph.
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Quebec charter of Human Rights and freedoms Site Français
Texte entier en Français (PDF page 3) Chapitre I, 5. :
Toute personne a droit au respect de sa vie privée.
The Entire English text (PDF page 3), Chapter I, 5.:
Every person has a right to respect for his private life.
In Quebec, the Quebec Human Rights Code grants all humans the right to their private life. For photography, this broadly-worded right allows each individual person in Quebec control over the use of their image (meaning, a photo of them).
This was recently upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in a case where a photographer published a photo of an individual in public, without the subject's permission. The image was nothing special, it was taken from a public place of a person in public, and did not injure their reputation. However, the Supreme Court of Canada said that the photographer should not have published the photo without the permission of the person photographed, and ruled in the favor of the subject of the photo. They did note that there are exceptions for newsworthy events, people who are in the public eye, like politicians or celebrities, or if the person was incidental to the photo, and not the main subject(s).Aubrey v. Edition Vice-Versa Inc.
Wikipedia Article Summary of Case - The Court held that under Quebec law a photographer can take photographs in public places but may not publish the picture unless permission has been obtained from the subject.The Court limited this requirement to exclude persons whose photographs were taken during an event of public interest. That is, a person of public interest or equally an unknown person who is implicated in a public matter cannot claim image rights. Consequently, anyone's photograph that was incidental to a photo of some matter will be treated as part of the background and will not be able to claim their rights were violated.
The transcript of the Supreme Court of Canada case
The Supreme Court of Canada's Findings
