Student Gets Ticket For Sitting On Park Ledge

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In Montreal it can be costly to seat on a park ledge instead of a park bench. Brendan Colin Jones, 25 was sitting on a ledge at a park at de Maisonneuve Blvd. when the police gave him a ticket for $628.

At the Émilie Gamelin Park many people sit on the granite surfaces to take in nature and relax. Most have no idea that they are breaking the law for those minutes that they are relaxing. Jones, a student at Concordia University was doing just that when the police came by giving him a ticket for “using urban equipment for uses other than those intended.”

In defense of the police Montreal police Sgt. Ian Lafrenière says that Jones was told several times that he had to rest his bum on a park bench instead of the granite structures prior to his ticket.

The law is a new bylaw in Ville Marie and Jones has 30 days to contest the ticket.

Jones is an economics and history student at the Quebec school had decided to take a break from his studies and enjoy the sun for a bit on Saturday. When he saw some people nearby who were drinking alcohol being approached by the police he took out a digital camera and took some pictures.

“I saw this as an opportunity to observe how police deal with underprivileged people,” Jones recounted.

Then a police officer came by and asked if he had been taking pictures.

“Once I realized she was attempting to get me to give her my camera, I became confused and told her I would not give it to her,” Jones said.

“I had not committed any crime and had been sitting peacefully, just like many others around me.”

Two other police officers joined the female officer as Jones pocketed his camera. The police told Jones that it was illegal to sit in a city park unless on a park bench. Jones couldn’t see any park benches around the park.

The ticket the police gave him will be fought. He is having a hard enough time giving his tuition and has a debt of $30,000 in student loans. This term has yet to be paid. The $628 fine for sitting on a rock is just too much.

He may want to take Montreal architect Gavin Affleck, a specialist in urban spaces with him when he goes to court. The professional says the purpose of the granite surfaces at Émilie Gamelin Park is for people to sit on them.

“A successful public space develops conviviality, use, social interaction, and obviously sitting around is basic,” Affleck said in an interview.

“Trying to eliminate that from a public space is completely opposite to its whole intention.”

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