RCMP laid over 9,500 social distancing-related charges in four months, says StatsCan

Yesterday, Statistics Canada said the RCMP laid over 9,500 pandemic-related charges in just four months, the charges included breach of the Quarantine Act, according to Blacklock's Reporter.

The Canadian Police Association, which advocates for law enforcement across Canada, complained that the weird mixture of regulations meant police were ticketing the public for rather normal daily activities.

A list of some of the more questionable offences that have been revealed include :

• Ottawa Police Service ticketing a woman $650 for sitting too close to a friend on a park bench.
• Halifax Regional Police fining a man $1,000 for standing too close to others at a bus shelter.
• Ottawa Police Service fining Corey Yanofsky $880 for walking through Ottawa’s Britannia Park.

When appearing at the House of Commons health committee on April 22, the Canadian Police Association's President, Tom Stamatakis, said there was a lack of "general consistency" in the way the Covid-19 related rules were enforced. The issue was that it was hard to tell people to not do things "they had always been allowed to do" Tom added.

During the coronavirus pandemic, police, bylaw and public health officers are all responsible with enforcing municipal bylaws, provincial and territorial regulations known as the "Health Acts" and the federal "Quarantine Act."