No Sticking, Stapling or Nailing Allowed

I have fond memories of stealth postering expeditions from years ago: the spray bottle of adhesive (a secret potion of powdered milk, flour and water), the crudely photocopied fliers, adrenaline running high and our bare, sticky hands shaking in January cold. I knew, of course, that postering was illegal, but everyone else was doing it so we felt righteous and invincible.

Concrete information was - and remains - as elusive as our secret adhesive recipe. During the Public Art seminar at the Pop and Policy conference last month, speakers revealed their bafflement about the application of these laws, which seem to tolerate a great deal of postering and then crack down at random. They were wary and bitter from having felt the sting of the law a few too many times.

A little research (ok, an entire morning plugging keywords into google and searching Montreal’s municipal information bank) reveals the laws pertaining to “affichage sauvage” (literally “wild postering”) in public places vary by borough and available information is patchy at best. The Plateau is one of the few boroughs for which I could find an official position on independent postering. According to their cleanliness laws, it is illegal to stick, staple or nail anything to public property (article 21.6).

Such a little, innocent-sounding rule. But it effectively bans everything from plastering commercial posters over our playgrounds to putting up a sign for your garage sale. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1993 that prohibiting all postering violates freedom of expression. Clearly, postering needs to be regulated, not banned.

Why regulated? That was my innitial thought until I began to have visions of corporate logos inching off bus shelters, billboards and bathroom doors and taking up residence on park benches, historical monuments, tree-trunks, and jungle gyms. No thanks. That said, I love seeing creative, artistic independant postering for creative, artistic, indie events. The city, however, dosen’t seem up to making the distinction. Like the other boroughs that address postering, the Plateau lumps “affichage sauvage” together with graffiti and tagging.

Consequently, their prevention plan suggests steps like increasing the number of recreational activities available to adolescents. This fails to take into account that, far from being a random act of vandalism, territoriality, or even purely artistic expression, postering is a way to communicate with the local community, organize and promote events - from garage sales to concerts to political rallys. Grouping postering in with graffiti and tagging betrays the city’s complete failure to grasp the role of postering, and to address and regulate it in a relevant way.

This post on Spacing Montreal last week also brings up a good point about the city’s double standards in regards to postering. Thanks to a city-wide exception, there seems to be no end to the faces beaming down at us from telephone poles when election day looms. If politicians can see the value of postering for themselves, surely they can grasp that it’s as a means of communication for independant artists as well. If anyone would like to bring that up in a borough council meeting, please remember that you’ve got the Supreme Court on your side.