Privacy versus freedom of expression at stake in Alberta’s Palace Casino case

Privacy lawyers are anxiously awaiting the Supreme court of canada’s ruling in a case called Information and Privacy Commissioner v. UFCW Local 401, also called Palace casino. Arguments were heard before the Supreme court in June, but the court has yet to rule. during a strike, union members filmed replacement workers crossing a picket line and threatened to post the images on the Web. The Alberta court of Appeal found that although publishing the images would violate Alberta’s privacy statute, the law violated the freedom of expression guarantees in the canadian charter of rights and Freedoms. Alberta’s privacy commission- er argued the appellate court didn’t balance freedom of expression with the statute’s objective of protecting individual privacy. Meanwhile, the union asked the court to recognize a novel argument that had been rejected by Alberta’s appellate court: the filming was “union journalism.” Alberta’s privacy statute grants a specific exemption for media.