Smartphones across Quebec buzzed today with an emergency alert like no other: Be inside by 8 p.m., or face a fine.
In an open letter posted to Facebook on Saturday morning, the province’s premier said imposing an overnight curfew was a difficult, but necessary decision in order to limit the chances of Quebecers gathering illegally.
“The main reason for the curfew is to prevent gatherings, even the smallest ones,” wrote François Legault. “It’s the addition of all the small breaches of the rules that feeds the virus.”
With this new rule in place, police have the power to stop and question anybody outdoors between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.
“The police will also be very visible this weekend,” the province’s Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault said in a tweet Friday. “Let’s stay at home, save lives.”
Those without a valid reason to be out between those hours could face fines of between $1,000 to $6,000.
On Saturday night, a handful of tickets were given out to small groups of a dozen or so anti-curfew protesters in Sherbrooke and Quebec City.
A similar demonstration garnered about 50 people in Montreal. According to Radio-Canada, Montreal police ticketed 17 people for violating the curfew.
After 8 p.m. on Saturday night, there were hardly any cars on the road. 0:43
“There will be about 100 extra police officers circulating in the city, to patrol, to be in the streets, to show that they are present, so people understand how important this is,” Mayor Valérie Plante told CBC’s Debra Arbec on Friday.
If people are out, Plante said, they will have to show proof to police that they have the right to be.
In Quebec City, several facilities, including outdoor skating rinks, will close at 7:30 p.m. to allow residents to rush home before the 8 p.m. deadline.
Extra security guards will be brought in to ensure people don’t skate too late at the popular rinks, and staff will be doubled in areas where extra surveillance may be needed to ensure everybody is staying safe while enjoying the few activities still allowed in the province,
Une communication Québec En Alerte sera émise demain pour aviser tous les citoyens de l’entrée en vigueur du couvre-feu. Les policiers seront également très visibles ce weekend. Un ultime effort parallèlement à la vaccination qui se poursuit. Restons chez nous, sauvons des vies.
While it’s inevitable that police will hand out fines, civil rights lawyer Julius Grey hopes most people will do exactly what they are asked — stay home so as to limit the spread of the virus as the province’s health-care network strains against the rising caseload.
Montreal, known for its vibrant, colourful nightlife, will be off limits to those hoping to take a late-night stroll for the next 4 weeks. Unless, of course, they have a dog with them. (Daniel Thomas/Radio-Canada)
If people don’t respect the curfew it’s justifiable in the current context to hand out reasonable fines, he said.
However, he would like to see police start by warning people to go home rather than immediately resorting to tickets. As long as there are necessary exemptions, the province has every right to impose exceptional measures in the interest of public security, Grey said.
“$6,000 is rather high, but I also think that it is not high enough to constitute cruel and unusual punishment,” he said.
With fees, the minimum fine hovers around $1,500. Grey expects it will be those who commit multiple offences or are obstinate who will receive higher fines.
Montreal police asked to consider individual situations
It is important that police do not resort to profiling or targeting certain groups, Grey said, and it is best that citizens co-operate with law enforcement if stopped, as everybody should be doing their part to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Plante said her administration has been discussing with the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal not just about the importance of enforcing the curfew, but also about listening to every person and their situation.
While many homeless in Montreal prefer to stay out of shelters due to strict rules and risk of catching COVID-19, Quebec’s premier says they must go inside while the curfew is in place. ‘There are places set up for them,’ he said. (Jean-Claude Taliana/Radio-Canada)
“Especially around vulnerable people,” she said.
“I am thinking about people in a situation of homelessness. We don’t want to give them fines they cannot pay. We need to bring them to different resources that exist.”
However, Premier François Legault made it clear on Wednesday that not having a home is not an exception to the rule. He said there is enough space in shelters.
“What we would like is for the homeless to also go indoors,” he said. “There are places set up for them.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
