Shoppers at a downtown Montreal shopping mall say they were caught off guard when they realized they were being caught on camera inside the washrooms.
“I was about to wash my hands and I look up and I’m like… uhh, what? That’s not OK. You can’t do that,” Madighan Antsui said of her experience inside the restroom at Place Dupuis Complex Tuesday.
“It’s right beside, in front of a stall, the big handicap stall, it’s here and then all the stalls. So it looks like it’s pointing in the stalls.”
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Her partner went inside the men’s room and noticed a matching camera inside before they spoke to a security guard in the mall. They say the guard told them he’s “allowed to watch.”
Mall management issued a statement to Global News that said the security cameras do not point into the stalls but are directed at the sinks. It also noted that signage has also been posted that informs shoppers that the cameras are present.
It added that since the cameras were installed a year ago, provincial authorities have been to the washrooms multiple times to ensure they are compliant with privacy laws.
Lawyer Julius Grey told Global News that while the cameras are not illegal, there are stringent rules surrounding their use in spaces such as these.
“The recordings must be highly confidential, must be watched and destroyed quickly and nothing in those recordings other than the crimes you’re looking to discover should ever be leaked to the public,” he said.
Global News reached out to the security company for reaction but it declined to comment.
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Security cameras in washrooms at Quebec mall raise privacy concerns
