MASK OR CONSEQUENCES
Ottawa-Centre MPP Joel Harden says police should be called if necessary to deal with anti-mask scofflaws who jeopardize the health of other people in public spaces.
While bylaw officers have laid 50 charges under Ottawa's temporary mask bylaw in the past three months, the city now faces calls for stepped-up enforcement of the regulations as COVID-19 numbers mount.
Ottawa Centre MPP Joel Harden said he would like to see more consequences for mask scofflaws who jeopardize the health of other people in public spaces. He wants increased enforcement of the city mask bylaw and, when necessary, police involvement.
“I'm deeply, deeply concerned that a very small minority of people in our community think it's within their charter rights to walk into a store unmasked and make a scene,” he said in an interview.
Harden said he was disturbed by a recent incident at Kowloon Market in which two men entered the Chinatown grocer without masks and refused to leave after being confronted by staff and other customers.
“You're blind to see that they're just killing us off,” one of the men is heard saying in a cellphone recording of the incident.
Ottawa police were called. Responding officers spoke with the men but did not lay charges.
Earlier this week, Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney wrote to police Chief Peter Sloly, asking him to explain the service's handling of the incident.
Insp. Jamie Dunlop has told McKenney that police have been instructed not to challenge people who claim a medical exemption from wearing a mask, as the men did at Kowloon Market.
“I feel that in a case like this, where you have two people walking into a store deliberately and maliciously not wearing masks, yelling, I would have liked to have seen charges laid,” McKenney said in an interview Thursday. “It's important that the message be sent that this is a serious public health issue.”
Harden said he thinks the men could have been charged with forcible confinement since they stood near the doors, and also fined for violating the city's mask bylaw.
“This is an act of aggression, going into a store whose owners have taken great precautions to keep workers and patrons safe and acting in this way,” he said.
“I think there should be consequences for it. I think bylaw should act ... I don't believe you have the right to put someone else's health at risk, which is what these guys did and what those bar-hoppers did on Elgin Street.”
Late last month, two men went bar-hopping on Elgin Street while awaiting COVID-19 test results following close contact with an infected person.
Days later, when the two men tested positive, at least five bars had to close while staff members were tested.
The men have not been charged with a bylaw offence.
Roger Chapman, director of the city's bylaw department, said his officers have laid 50 charges since the city enacted the Temporary Mandatory Mask By-law on July 15, and most of those have been laid in the past month.
“Bylaw and regulatory services remain committed to upholding the temporary mandatory mask bylaw, which has been enacted to help slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the health and safety of our community,” Chapman said Thursday.
Peter So, chair of the Somerset Street Chinatown Business Improvement Area, said the vast majority of customers follow the city's mask bylaw.
“There have been incidents, but they're really rare,” he said.