TransLink curbs free speech

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      Recent police interference with distribution of the Fire This Time activist newspaper at SkyTrain stations adds a new blot to TransLink’s spotty record with regard to charter rights.

      Freedom of “thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press” is enshrined in Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

      In 2011, transit police ejected SkyTrain passenger Jean Wharf for refusing to remove a button on her jacket that read Fuck Yoga.

      The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 2009 that TransLink and B.C. Transit had violated the right to freedom of expression of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and the Canadian Federation of Students by refusing to place their ads on transit vehicles.

      In 2001, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled that TransLink had infringed on Ron Churchill’s rights when transit police arrested him for distributing political pamphlets at a SkyTrain station during the 2000 federal election campaign.

      The case involving Churchill, a former Canadian Alliance campaign manager, prompted TransLink to change its policy to permit election campaigning and other forms of noncommercial expression on its property, provided they don’t happen in fare-paid zones or interfere with the use of the transit system.

      It’s this same set of rules that members of the Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice have cited after being told by police on a number of occasions this summer to stop distributing their newspaper.

      Things came to a head on August 31 when activists Thomas Davies, Shakeel Lochan, and Mike Larson were arrested by TransLink police and RCMP officers at the Metrotown SkyTrain station in Burnaby. They were released without charges.

      The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has taken a strong interest in the case.

      “It’s a classic civil-liberties, free-speech issue,” BCCLA executive director David Eby told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “We think that people should be allowed to share free information as long as it’s not going to be done in a way that interferes with the use of the transit station.”

      The police harassment of Fire This Time has generated outrage among activists of various inclinations. At a well-attended and animated meeting at Joe’s Café on Commercial Drive on September 11, they formed a provisional group to protect one of Canada’s fundamental freedoms. It’s called the Vancouver Committee to Defend Freedom of Expression.

      Payvand Pejvack was one of the first to arrive for the evening meeting. In June, she was confronted by transit police at the Commercial Drive SkyTrain station and told she couldn’t hand out the Fire This Time paper. She successfully argued that she was following TransLink rules on the distribution of noncommercial printed material.

      According to Pejvack, it was the third time she had been accosted by police while doing her distribution rounds.

      “It’s clear that it’s targeting of information that we’re distributing to the people,” Pejvack told the Straight.

      Alison Bodine was with the three Fire This Time activists when their group was approached by police at Metrotown Station on August 31.

      In an interview before the September 11 meeting started, Bodine told the Straight: “It’s an attack on freedom of expression. It’s an attack on the basic civil and democratic right to have an opinion that’s different from the government, and to disagree with current policies of wars abroad and here against people at home, which is what the Fire This Time newspaper is all about.”

      TransLink spokesperson Drew Snider doesn’t anticipate any further incidents involving Fire This Time members.

      “If they’re following the rules, everything’s fine,” he told the Straight by phone.

      The BCCLA’s Eby noted that Fire This Time has a range of legal options, including suing the police for wrongful arrest.

      In the two videos below, a Fire This Time activist defends her right to distribute the free newspaper at Broadway-Commercial SkyTrain station.

      Comments

      34 Comments

      2nd Nation

      Sep 13, 2012 at 7:16am

      why not follow the proper procedure to distribute material? you know, like everyone else does. Ohhhh, I get it - you wanted to manufacture an injustice! Ever think of contributing to society instead of making problems?

      Birdman

      Sep 13, 2012 at 8:23am

      Civil liberties are important and must be vigorously defended. Well done, ladies.

      Commuter

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:05am

      It's also my right to use transit without being bothered by people stuffing fliers in my face and blocking access to busy stations. I'm sure the majority of transit users feel the same way. At least the metro and 24 hours newspaper huckers pay to be there - funding transit. If they want to be in stations maybe they should pay, or stay outside of them.

      Freedom Of the Press

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:12am

      If you have the money.

      Lydia

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:12am

      Hey 2nd Nation, why not read the story so you can see that they WERE FOLLOWING THE RULES and argued successfully that they were doing so, yet we're harassed nonetheless.

      Dan Clay

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:17am

      ok why don't the transit (well paid) police, ENFORCE the NO SMOKING rule on Translink property?. If smokers, smoking under clearly marked" no smoking" signs cant be considered blatant advertising for the corporate tobacco industry,( not to mention a health hazard for riders who walk through clouds of 2nd hand smoke daily at Metrotown, Burrard, Surrey Central),despite city councils everywhere putting up anti smoking bylaws, why are the trasit police selecting which rules to enforce, and which to ignore? I am also alarmed that Translink disregards OUR Canadian Charter of rights. Why are they, and certain elected officials,indifferent to our charter?

      dave19

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:21am

      The terrorists have won, we are no longer free.

      ursa minor

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:50am

      What "proper" procedure to distribute material?

      The way Metro/24hrs hawkers park themselves in front of escalators and stairways at SkyTrain stations?

      Or do you mean only distributing information and opionions that the state and its corporate masters agree with?

      Jiff

      Sep 13, 2012 at 9:52am

      I thought the whole country was a "Free Speech Zone." The fact that this phrase has taken hold is worrying.

      Strategis

      Sep 13, 2012 at 10:50am

      The right to privacy and the right to freedom of speech are the cornerstones of democracy and an open society. If we don't vigorously defend them against inevitable authoritarian encroachment, then we will find ourselves living in a fascist society very quickly.