On my recent trip to Montreal, I took a bit of time to explore through the newest parts of the metro system, extending under the Rivière des Prairies to Laval. As an avid railfan with not much to see in the way of passenger rail in Calgary, this was pretty exciting.

This picture was the last I took before I was interrupted:

A janitor pushing his wheeled trash bin along the third platform at Henri-Bourassa station called out to me. He kindly told me photography was prohibited and that I’d better put away my camera before security showed up to give me a ticket — or worse.

I was very touched by his genuine concern — but unfortunately he was terribly misinformed.

Montreal Transit Corporation (MTC) regulations state a permit is required for commercial photography on its property. There are also bylaws governing passenger behaviour: If I decided to plant a tripod at the top of an escalator in the middle of rush hour, the MTC would be well within its rights to give me a ticket for obstructing traffic. But there are no specific rules regarding photography in the metro.

Luckily, I had a friend with me at the time. A few years ago, he had an unfortunate run-in with MTC transit cops and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police while trying to take photos at Sauvé station. Because of the darkness of his skin, it was presumed he was a security/terrorist threat. They held him for hours as they checked his background — they found nothing because there was nothing to find. He was eventually let go. He made a lot of noise about it in the media and eventually got an apology.

My friend, the janitor and I had a long conversation about just how wrong the janitor was. (My cousin was there, too, but he doesn’t speak French and stayed the heck out of it.)

“If we let anybody just take pictures anywhere, it could be dangerous,” the janitor argued at one point. “They could plant a bomb somewhere and hurt a lot of people.”

That assertion caught me off guard.

“What do bombs have to do with taking pictures?” I asked. “Someone could very well plant a bomb without ever having taken a photo.”

My friend chimed in: “What would you do with all the tourists at the busy stations downtown snapping pictures everywhere?”

This went on for a long while. We rehashed the same arguments over and over again. At some point I decided to shut up and let my friend do the talking. The janitor eventually went on his way and we continued our exploration of the Montreal metro. We were left wondering how many other misinformed transit workers are going around harassing photographers who discreetly take photos and do their best to stay out of the way.