A COUNTRY OF SNITCHES?
We’re headed that way, experts say
As fear and anxiety rises among a population ordered to stay home as much as possible to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, is Canada becoming a nation of snitches turning on each other to enforce social distancing?
Absolutely, experts say.
“People are being told that you have to snitch. It has become the civic duty of a good citizen. If you see a social gathering, if you see people having groups of guests over, then be a good citizen and report it,” said criminologist and former MP Maria Mourani.
“The current COVID-19 threat makes us feel powerless and out of control. So by denouncing, it gives people the impression that they have more control on their situation. It’s a way of controlling our fear,” added psychologist Geneviève Beaulieu Pelletier.
“We’re possibly headed towards becoming a country of snitches,” she said.
Little national data exists throughout the country detailing how much snitching is happening during these times of enforced isolation. But it has become so prevalent in some cities that local administrations have set up dedicated resources just to take reports from concerned citizens.
Toronto asked residents to call the city’s 311 line because social distancing snitches were clogging 911 emergency lines with hundreds of calls. Just last Saturday, the city said it received 300 complaints involving people in parks.
The City of London, Ont., went one step further and opened a dedicated snitch phone line to encourage residents to denounce gatherings.
Last Friday, Montreal police decided to set up a special COVID-19 snitching Web page. That decision was made after a particularly beautiful day in Montreal two weeks ago led to a flood of 911 calls reporting people allegedly flouting public health orders.
“We’re definitely not asking people to go to their windows and start watching their neighbour from morning to night to see what they’re doing. That’s not what we want. The message we’re trying to get across is that if people are showing a total disregard for the rules, then report it. But don’t become snitches and Big Brother,” said Inspector André Durocher of the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal.
According to a Leger Marketing poll published on Tuesday, no less than 40.7% of Canadians said they intend to report any behaviour that goes against measures put in place to fight COVID-19.
While only 22.8% said they weren’t snitches, the remaining 36.5% said they didn’t know or refused to answer.
“I find that high,” said Jack Jedwab, president of the Association for Canadian Studies, who commissioned the survey. “Especially when you consider that the remaining 36.5% could be convinced to report. They’re not necessarily going to, but they could.”
The poll also revealed that a respondent’s likeliness to snitch is significantly higher if they also report feeling more fear or anxiety since the beginning of the pandemic.
He also said he had his own run-in with a social-distancing vigilante recently while taking a walk with his wife. “Someone yelled at us that we weren’t social distancing. I kind of felt attacked so I don’t want to share the epithets I used to respond, but I essentially said mind your own business,” he explained with a laugh.
Though reporting is completely justified if groups are very obviously flouting public health orders, Mourani said she has also heard of cases where law-abiding citizens were the victims of overzealous — and sometimes ill-intending — snitches.
“I recently spoke to a 70-year-old woman who lives alone. She has no one over and doesn’t go out at all. The only person she sees is her sister, who also lives alone, because she get groceries for her and drops them off at her place,” Mourani said.
“The police have shown up at her door four times since, saying someone called to report she was having guests over. She later realized that someone in her building was calling the police every time her sister dropped off groceries. What is she supposed to do, starve to death?”
Social interactions aren’t the only thing people are calling in, either.
Ever since the federal government started rolling out the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) last week, some Canadians have taken it upon themselves to report those they don’t think deserve the $2,000/month emergency cheque.
A few even decided to write this reporter to find out how they could tattle on an allegedly undeserving neighbour or acquaintance.
“Is there a way to report someone if they are committing fraud and collecting the CERB benefit when they live in their parents’ basement and haven’t had a job since they were 15?” asked one reader.
SHE REALIZED THAT SOMEONE IN HER BUILDING WAS CALLING THE POLICE EVERY TIME HER
SISTER DROPPED OFF GROCERIES.
The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which administers CERB, wouldn’t confirm or deny that it was also receiving tips from Canadians concerned about who was receiving the benefit.
But a spokesperson did say that the agency’s current priority “is to ensure that the CERB payments are delivered quickly and efficiently to eligible Canadians.”
“If members of the public are concerned that a taxpayer is intentionally not complying with the provisions of the Income Tax Act, they are encouraged to contact the CRA’s Leads Program,” CRA spokesperson Etienne Biram said via email.