Over the past week, Canadian officials have urged the public to practice social distancing, self-isolate and quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic — but what happens if that advice is ignored?
While officials have insisted that self-isolation is strongly advised in some circumstances, there are currently no plans to enforce it.
Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, dismissed the idea on Thursday, saying many Canadians are already following the rules.
“Our whole concept is to get everybody to do the right thing,” Dr. Tam said. “Based on other experiences like the SARS situation in Toronto, Canadians contribute by doing the right thing.”
Dr. Tam noted that Canada does have legislation for cases when advice is not followed, but officials are “not aiming for that to be the key response.”
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed similar sentiments on Monday.
“If we put measures for mandatory self-isolation, as many people have looked for, there would need to be enforcement measures around that both by public health and public safety,” Trudeau said.
“We know that Canadians want to keep themselves and their families safe, and we are confident that people will do what is necessary to keep themselves, their loved ones and their neighbourhoods safe,” he added.
In other parts of the world, stronger measures have been taken to ensure those who need to stay home are actually doing so.
While Canada has not enforced such strong measures, it can, according to University of Ottawa law professor Martha Jackman.
Jackman explained Canadians have the right to mobility as per Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but the government can infringe on it if deemed necessary.
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“Section 1 of the Charter does allow the government to restrict Charter rights, if it is reasonably and demonstrably justifiable,” she said, noting that in this case, they would have to prove it was recommended by medical professionals as a necessary step in curbing COVID-19 cases.
“As long as the decisions really are grounded in legitimate public health concerns, then you know, they would be deemed by court to be justifiable,” she said.
“You can imagine that in a pandemic context, like the one we’re in right now, the courts are going to be fairly deferential and rightly so.”
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Jackman said that doesn’t mean the decision would come lightly, and it would be difficult for the government to balance several social, economic and political factors.
There are ways for the Canadian government to enforce self-isolation.
Barbara von Tigerstrom, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan who researches public health law, explained the Quarantine Act has already been used by the government in the COVID-19 fight.
Von Tigerstrom cited the case of Canadians who were repatriated with help from the government from cruise ships, but then kept in quarantine at a military base in Trenton, Ont.
“The federal government generally deals with public health threats and communicable diseases at the border,” von Tigerstrom explained. “The Quarantine Act applies mostly at the point of entry rather than to the population generally.”
The act, which was created in 2005 following Canada’s SARS outbreak, allows the federal government to quarantine individuals arriving in the country to prevent the “introduction and spread of communicable diseases.”
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The act has the ability to deal with large-scale quarantines and individual cases, Von Tigerstrom explained.
She noted that for quarantine and self-isolation of those already in Canada, provincial legislation would be more relevant.
“Every province and territory will have some piece of legislation that does that; in a lot of provinces it’s called the Public Health Act,” she said, adding that they also have separate legislation to take drastic measures in times of emergencies.
In Ontario, for example, the legislation is called the Health Protection and Promotion Act.
While several provinces have declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic, none have enforced self-isolation. They have, however, strongly urged the public to comply with the rules.
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On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said enforcing self-isolation would be very difficult.
“We don’t have the police and the resources to be knocking on everyone’s door and saying, ‘are you staying in?’” he told reporters.
Ford did raise concerns that long lines at the grocery store prove many are not following orders as well as they should.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs voiced similar concerns Thursday as he declared a state of emergency.
“Declaring a state of emergency and changing the messaging raises the bar higher. It brings a sense of urgency that this is not a game, this is not an exercise,” he said, explaining that he hopes people will now take self-isolation more seriously.
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In both federal and provincial legislation, von Tigerstrom said there are powers to arrest and detain rule-breakers, but using them is a “fairly extreme measure.”
In this specific case, one that affects nearly every Candian, von Tigerstrom noted enforcing those powers could be very difficult.
“We’re just looking at things happening on such a large scale right now that actually keeping track of everyone and monitoring and sending people out to bring them back to where they’re supposed to be would be such a huge task.”
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That’s why Roojin Habibi, a global health lawyer and research fellow at York University’s Global Strategy Lab, said the government is taking a different approach.
“I think there’s just not a lot of appetite to impose heavy-handed measures right now,” she said.
“They’re making sure that the right channels of information get to people, saying this is also in people’s interests right now.”
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The government is also enforcing shutdowns of schools, daycares and other facilities, and encouraging people to work from home, Habibi noted, limiting ways for people to gather.
“Those are the things that the government can control,” she said.
“I think the government’s not likely to force this upon people. It’s more likely to create a kind of social setting where people will inevitably just be at home.”
While that is what officials have suggested thus far, von Tigerstrom noted the COVID-19 pandemic is difficult to predict.
“It really depends on how things develop,” she said. “Certainly we’ve seen examples in some countries, there have been some arrests.”
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In Canada, von Tigerstrom said it comes down to finding a balance between public health and Charter rights.
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“They can only do that when it’s necessary and proportionate to the risk,” she said.
“It’s not a step that any government would take lightly, but if they think that it’s necessary to protect against a significant risk to public health, then it’s possible.”
OTTAWA – Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the government is making some changes to mortgage rules to help more Canadians to purchase their first home.
She says the changes will come into force in December and better reflect the housing market.
The price cap for insured mortgages will be boosted for the first time since 2012, moving to $1.5 million from $1 million, to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
On Aug. 1 eligibility for the 30-year amortization was changed to include first-time buyers purchasing a newly-built home.
Justice Minister Arif Virani is also releasing drafts for a bill of rights for renters as well as one for homebuyers, both of which the government promised five months ago.
Virani says the government intends to work with provinces to prevent practices like renovictions, where landowners evict tenants and make minimal renovations and then seek higher rents.
The government touts today’s announced measures as the “boldest mortgage reforms in decades,” and it comes after a year of criticism over high housing costs.
The Liberals have been slumping in the polls for months, including among younger adults who say not being able to afford a house is one of their key concerns.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – The head of a federal inquiry into foreign interference says she will not be publicly identifying parliamentarians suspected by a spy watchdog of meddling in Canadian affairs.
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians raised eyebrows earlier this year with a public version of a secret report that said some parliamentarians were “semi-witting or witting” participants in the efforts of foreign states to meddle in Canadian politics.
Although the report didn’t name individuals, the blunt findings prompted a flurry of concern that members knowingly involved in interference might still be active in politics.
As inquiry hearings resume today, commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue cautions that the allegations are based on classified information, which means the inquiry can neither make them public, nor even disclose them to the people in question.
As a result, she says, the commission of inquiry won’t be able to provide the individuals with a meaningful opportunity to defend themselves.
However, Hogue adds, the commission plans to address the allegations in the classified version of its final report and make recommendations.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – The judge overseeing the sexual assault trial of former vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson is reading his decision in an Ottawa court this morning.
Edmundson was the head of the military’s personnel in 2021 when he was accused of sexually assaulting a woman while they were deployed together back in 1991.
The trial was held in February, but the verdict has been delayed twice.
The complainant, Stephanie Viau, testified at trial that she was in the navy’s lowest rank at the time of the alleged assault and Edmundson was an officer.
Edmundson pleaded not guilty, and testified that he never had sexual contact with Viau.
He was one of several high-ranking military leaders accused of sexual misconduct in 2021, a scandal that led to an external report calling for sweeping changes to reform the culture of the Armed Forces.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024