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Water taxi driver refused TV crew's trip to Harry and Meghan's home - INSIDER

  • A water taxi driver told CBC radio host Carol Off that he refused to transport employees of a Japanese television company to a Vancouver Island home that's believed to be property of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
  • The driver, Miles Arsenault, said when he found out the crew's trip was in connection to Prince Harry and Markle, he told them: "You're going to have to find yourself another water taxi company."
  • Arsenault said the $300 he would've gotten from the ride wasn't worth invading the privacy of Harry and Meghan.
  • Canadian law experts previously told Insider that British Columbia has a statute that protects individuals from invasions of privacy, but that it's "new territory" for Canada's privacy laws to be used in the context of royals.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Miles Arsenault, a water taxi driver in British Columbia, Canada, told CBC's "As It Happens" radio host Carol Off on Thursday that he refused to transport employees of a Japanese television company to a home believed to be property of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Arsenault is a retired photographer, and six months ago, he opened his own water taxi company called Bay to Bay Charters, he told Off.

His water transport service is based in North Saanich in Canada's British Columbia province.

British Columbia is home to Vancouver Island, where Prince Harry and Markle are rumored to be moving following their announcement that they will "step back" from royal duties and no longer use their HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) titles starting in the spring.

Arsenault told Off on "As It Happens" that when members of a Japanese television company — the name of which he did not disclose — requested to book a water taxi ride, he wasn't initially suspicious.

prince harry meghan markle
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images

"Actually, I was quite excited. Any time the phone rings and somebody wants to take me out on a charter, it's money in my bank account," Arsenault said.

He continued, saying that when he arrived to meet the television crew at the marina, he asked his potential passengers if their destination was involving Prince Harry and Markle.

"I didn't know at the time that it was Meghan and Harry's private residence, but I asked them if this was involving them, and they admitted that it was. And at that point, I said, 'You're going to have to find yourself another water taxi company,'" Arsenault said.

Arsenault turned down the taxi ride, saying the money wasn't worth invading the privacy Prince Harry and Markle

The former photographer said that he understands the lengths reporters and journalists often take to get material, but that he's not willing to transport reporters to the couple's property.

"I know what it is to get the shot — the money shot," Arsenault told Off. "Reporters, photographers, videographers — they need to make a living. But they're not going to make it on my boat."

Arsenault said that the $300 he could have earned from taking the crew on the two-hour boat ride wasn't worth compromising the privacy of Prince Harry and Markle.

"It's invasion of privacy," Arsenault said.

prince harry meghan markle
The couple will no longer use their HRH, or His/Her Royal Highness, titles starting in the spring.
Remo Casilli/Reuters

The Canadian province British Columbia has a Privacy Act, which protects individuals from invasions of privacy

In a previous interview with Insider about Prince Harry and Markle's reported legal warning over the publication of an "unauthorized" paparazzi photo of Meghan, David Fraser, a privacy lawyer at McInnes Cooper in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that British Columbia has a provincial privacy law.

The law contains what's known as the Privacy Act, which allows people to sue for invasion of privacy.

"The law is relatively undefined as to the parameters and extent, but it would be informed by the reasonable expectation of privacy," Fraser said.

Fraser said the Canadian courts largely base invasion-of-privacy rulings on the circumstance because there are not many parameters associated with the statute.

He continued: "Most people would conclude you have a reduced expectation of privacy when you're in a public place. Canadian courts have been trending to say it's not that you have no expectation of privacy, but your privacy is very circumstance-specific."

meghan markle
The royal couple attracts a paparazzi culture that is, in large-part, new for Canada.
Charles McQuillan/Stringer/Getty Images

Arsenault added in the "As It Happens" interview that he thinks locals would welcome Prince Harry and Markle to Canada

"They hope to rub elbows with them in the line in the grocery store," Arsenault told Off. "They just wish them nothing but the best in their new lives."

Fraser also shared with Insider a similar sentiment to Arsenault's opinion: that he thinks most Canadians would be welcoming toward the royal couple.

"I think many people would be sensitive and sympathetic with the Sussexes coming to Canada, which was, as I understand it, in order to avoid a repeat of what happened to Diana," Fraser said. "It seems to me that the principal element that has prompted their radical change of lifestyle and radical change of status is because of the spotlight."

However, the paparazzi culture that the royal couple attract is unfamiliar to most Canadians

Most Canadians are not used to the paparazzi culture that Prince Harry and Markle attract, Dean Jobb, an author and professor of media law and journalism ethics at the University of King's College in Halifax, told Insider.

"The kind of aggressive paparazzi coverage that the royals attract is not unheard of in Canada, but it's not as common here," Jobb said. "That means there is a different landscape here than may have been the case in Britain."

The prospect of the duke and duchess settling down on Vancouver Island could make for one of the first times that Canadian courts place an emphasis on privacy laws, which are typically not interpreted in the context of public figures and royals, both experts said.

"While we have these laws, they haven't been used that often, and they have not been used in the context of celebrities, royals, and public figures — perhaps because we do not have the same paparazzi culture in Canada," Fraser said.

"This is new territory in terms of privacy law and media law in Canada," Jobb said.

Miles Arsenault did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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