Technically yes, but it's not without many caveats, and often depends on what you're doing with the recordings. See https://www.freedomforum.org/recording-in-public/ for _some_ of the complexities. (Note: freedomforum.org is a US site concerned with US laws, but the incident in the main post was in Canada, so not everything is the same, but Canada also has caveats/restrictions on such recording.)
Most of those caveats are about spaces that aren't actually public, or recording audio. When it comes to pure surveillance-style video recording in actual public spaces, there's not much in the way of restrictions, and nothing where police have special privileges.
Technically yes, but it's not without many caveats, and often depends on what you're doing with the recordings. See https://www.freedomforum.org/recording-in-public/ for _some_ of the complexities. (Note: freedomforum.org is a US site concerned with US laws, but the incident in the main post was in Canada, so not everything is the same, but Canada also has caveats/restrictions on such recording.)
Most of those caveats are about spaces that aren't actually public, or recording audio. When it comes to pure surveillance-style video recording in actual public spaces, there's not much in the way of restrictions, and nothing where police have special privileges.