CAO orders bylaw officers to cease drone surveillance

Municipality admits to using drones without council approval.

Last week, I reported on the revelation that bylaw enforcement officers in West Nipissing have started using drones. A West Nipissing resident was subject to an investigation at his property where both local bylaw enforcement officers used Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), otherwise known as drones.

Drones in Canada must be licenced and must only be operated by trained individuals. When other Canadian municipalities have started using drones in recent years they have first done public consultations and gotten approval from the elected council.

In 2018, when Hamilton officials attempted to start using drones prematurely, the Ontario Privacy Commissioner ruled that the city needed “strict policies and procedures” in place before doing so.

After the news of drone usage in West Nipissing was widely shared on social media, many residents sought answers from councillors and municipal staff. Eventually, at least one councillor contacted the CAO for more information regarding the allegations.

This morning, the town CAO, Jay Barbeau emailed all of council to confirm the story.

In his email, he told councillors that a drone had in fact been used on one file to originally investigate and then once again to follow up. He also stated that officers had used a drone to investigate illegal encampments recently. But he stressed that this was done “without being sanctioned by the Municipality”. He notified council that as soon as he was made aware he “directed bylaw enforcement officers to cease the practice immediately.”

It is not clear when the CAO became aware or if he simply just asked the officers following this website’s reporting last Friday. The CAO did not provide any details on disciplinary actions being taken.

No further details were provided on the case in question and why officers chose to use a drone in this particular instance only.

The use of unsanctioned or illegal surveillance brings the possibility of costly liability for the municipal corporation. It also risks throwing out all legal cases where such surveillance may have been used.

I reached out to the homeowner who helped bring this revelation to light and they once again confirmed the details of an original investigation where drones were used by officers. However, they were unaware that officers had returned with drones to follow up, leaving them very uncomfortable that this occurred without their knowledge or consent.

Many West Nipissing residents are uncomfortable that this was allowed to happen without authorization and are hoping the city or council will address the issue publicly. But for the time being residents can breathe a sigh of relief that officers have been instructed to stop using drones for now.

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