Members of the Grande Prairie RCMP speak with people protesting the COVID-19 enhanced public health measures (photo by Liam Verster)

By Liam Verster

Enforcing Enhanced Public Health Measures

Alberta RCMP taking education-first approach with violations of new COVID-19 health measures

Dec 1, 2020 | 10:39 AM

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Alberta won’t be cracking down on violations of the new enhanced public health measures issued by the Alberta Government right away, and will instead first focus on education and communication over handing out fines.

The new COVID-19 enhanced public health measures were released on November 24, and include prohibiting indoor social gatherings; restrictions on outdoor social gatherings; at-home learning for students in Grades 7-12; limiting capacity at places of worship; and more.

The issue of enforcement of the public health orders comes up following this past weekend’s marches across Alberta, one of which was held in Grande Prairie on Saturday, which greatly-exceeded the maximum of 10 people for an outdoor social gathering. Those who gathered were in protest of the new public health measures, which were implemented to slow the sharp rise of new COVID-19 cases in Alberta, as well as hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths.

Corporal Deanna Fontaine with the Western Alberta District RCMP says the primary goal for police responding to COVID-19 health measure violations is communication, education and voluntary compliance. She says the nature of the legislation is to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and by engaging those who don’t follow the rules right away, it allows for some extra time for those people to learn about the new laws, and then follow them.

“So, depending on the circumstances, when we see the complaint of a breach, the police have the consideration of doing the following depending on what they’re dealing with: education, so speaking to the person and informing them of the law under the Alberta Public Health Act, explaining the importance of voluntary compliance and the possible consequences, and reminding them of their duty to protect their fellow citizens from a potentially deadly virus,” says Fontaine.

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She says if speaking with them and issuing a warning does not work, and in the cases of repeat or blatant disregard for the rules, RCMP will be able to issue fines to people.

“In terms of violations, under the Public Health Act, it’s typically Section 73-1 under the Individual Contravening the Order of a Medical Officer of Health, and it’s a $1,200 fine, which is comprised of a $1,000 fine and a $200 surcharge per offence, and your court date would be set in the future,” says Fontaine.

So far, no one in Grande Prairie has been issued a fine for failing to comply with the enhanced regulations. The main reason that the new laws haven’t been enforced and no one has been penalized is that, despite the new regulations being released on November 24, the RCMP could not enforce the new policies until much later.

“Provincial orders need to be signed by the Province in order for law enforcement to be able to enforce those orders,” says Fontaine. “So the RCMP itself, we weren’t able to inform our officers that these guidelines were enforceable until partway through the day on Saturday (November 28).”

Fontaine does add that officers were aware of the regulations laid out by the Alberta government, and despite not having the legal authority to enforce said laws, they were still able to educate people on what was coming if they failed to comply with the regulations.

Fontaine adds that she hopes the public takes into consideration that the RCMP will be taking an education-first approach in dealing with violations of the public health guidelines, and that people comply with the orders and do their part to flatten the curve.

She adds it will take some time to adjust, but believes Albertans can follow the rules and do their part to reduce the risk of spreading the virus to vulnerable people.

Meanwhile, under the Federal Quarantine Act, the RCMP have the authority to lay charges against people who test positive for the novel coronavirus or have just returned from outside of the country but refuse to self-isolate and actively choose to break quarantine.