Pickering City Council removed a tax-funded “propaganda” video after community complaints revealed it illegally used surveillance footage, breaching the Protection of Privacy Act.
Following conversations with the City of Pickering, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario forced the local government to remove a video it posted, which used footage from a town hall meeting at one of its community centres.
The footage showed individuals, some of whom were from a group called “Veterans for Freedom” and other community groups, attending Pickering City Councillor Lisa Robinson’s November town hall meeting.
As previously reported by True North, the video allegedly highlighted an “existential threat” from the “alt-right” and was used to justify ending public delegations at city council meetings, according to reports.
Oshawa’s former Mayoral candidate and Durham region journalist, Joe Inigo, shared a response to a complaint filed with the privacy commission on Facebook. The response detailed that the city had taken down the publicly funded video.
“Your complaint outlined your concern with the city’s decision to use video surveillance from a community centre in an announcement that was posted on social media,” Marianne Garcia, an analyst for the IPC, said in an email response to the complaint.
“I contacted the city to discuss the circumstances of your complaint and requested a response. I have thoroughly reviewed the city’s response, and through my exchanges with them, the city confirmed that the video has been removed from all of the city’s social media platforms.”