To be honest, if he was, by his own admittance, standing on a public sidewalk for 30 minutes with his gear, then he earned that loitering fine.
According to this very article, with emphasis added,
Quebec City’s municipal bylaw says that is “prohibited for a person, without a reasonable motive … to loiter, wander or sleep in a street or a public space.”
[Criminal defence lawyer Florence Boucher Cossette] said Morris likely has a good shot at winning his case, as people accused of loitering when they were sunbathing or drinking coffee on a bench were acquitted in previous cases.
Those two examples are quite a bit different than “waiting for clouds” while blocking a sidewalk with camera gear for over a half hour.
Here’s how I personally look at bylaws and when they are appropriate: if 100 or 500 more people were doing what he did, would that acceptable?
I would hope most people see that blocking a public walkway for an inordinate amount of time without a reasonable motive (i.e. an eldery person catching their breath, or a mother tying her child’s shoelace), would need loitering bylaws to be enforced for the benefit of everyone else.
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According to this very article, with emphasis added,
Those two examples are quite a bit different than “waiting for clouds” while blocking a sidewalk with camera gear for over a half hour.
Here’s how I personally look at bylaws and when they are appropriate: if 100 or 500 more people were doing what he did, would that acceptable?
I would hope most people see that blocking a public walkway for an inordinate amount of time without a reasonable motive (i.e. an eldery person catching their breath, or a mother tying her child’s shoelace), would need loitering bylaws to be enforced for the benefit of everyone else.