People Visible in Photographs
The industry standard for commercial photography dictates that any identifiable person in a photograph should sign a model release. However, in Ontario, the Privacy Act does not protect it's residents against unwanted commercial use of their image. Other provinces, for example, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Quebec have provisions in their Privacy Acts (or similar regulations or statutes) for allowing a person to control their image or likeness, voice, and other attributes. Note that this does not disallow you from taking photos of them, only what you do with the photos (such as publishing them). If you have tracked down this information for other provinces, please forward it to me for inclusion.
Regardless of province, you may photograph and publish a photo of anyone, with the exception of young offenders, as long as the subject is newsworthy, doing newsworthy things, or are public figures or celebrities. Additionally, photos including people who are not the principal subject(s) of the photo, but instead make up the background do not have any say in what you do with the photograph.
