Civil rights matter, even in a pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic is a grave threat to public health in Canada but not, so far, to public order.

You wouldn’t know this, however, by the excessive and, frankly, unacceptable behaviour of some police and bylaw enforcement officers in recent days.

Far too many ordinary Canadians doing ordinary things that might reasonably be considered permissible have been stung by the too-heavy hand of the law.

Montrealer Melissa Leblanc was hit with a $1,546 fine by police because a few of her friends drove up on her street and sang “Happy Birthday” to her — from their cars while she stood well away at her front door.

In Ottawa, Corey Yanofsky was fined $880 after walking his dog through a municipal park. According to the city’s head of emergency and protective services, people are allowed to walk through the park, but not loiter in it, which seems to have been the sin committed by a thoroughly perplexed Yanofsky.

And in the same city, David Martinek was dumbfounded after being threatened with a $700 fine for kicking a ball to his energetic, four-year-old autistic son, William, on a small, public green space. After all, the city’s own emergency act says: “Nothing in this order precludes individuals from walking through or using portions of park and recreational areas that are not otherwise closed.”

Other reports of harsh, questionable fines being meted out have come from Nunavut and Nova Scotia, while in Toronto and Hamilton concerns have been specifically raised about the ticketing of homeless people.

Considering that the physical and economic health of Canadians are today’s top priorities, many people might excuse such draconian actions. But there’s no place for complacency when it comes to our civil rights. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has sounded the alarm about the “unfair and arbitrary” enforcement of new, pandemic-related laws across Canada, and the public should be listening.

To be sure, this newspaper fully endorses the emergency measures rolled out by our federal, provincial and municipal governments. These governments are right to impose rules that discourage public gatherings, promote physical distancing, close non-essential businesses and force travellers returning from abroad to self-isolate. Yet this has all happened in a few blinks of an eye. The new rules can be hazy and vary significantly from municipality to municipality or province to province. They often change from day to day, too. No wonder many Canadians remain confused about what precisely they can and can’t do.

And so many people are also coping with sudden unemployment and the inability to socialize with the family, friends and neighbours they depend on. Overnight their lives have become very hard.

This is not the time for police and bylaw officers to treat them as enemies of the state. This is particularly so given that the vast majority of Canadians appear to be doing all they can to respect and abide by the new order of things.

And so, unless an offence is egregious, we would urge police and bylaw officers to start by verbally warning individuals who violate one of the new rules. Explain to them what they’re doing wrong.

And any action should be based on specific regulations, not the whim of a martinet on a power trip. As the last resort, fines can be handed out, especially to stubborn scofflaws who persist in obviously unsafe behaviour.

That’s the way to encourage Canadians to accept the new rules. That’s also the way to ensure life during a pandemic is no harder than it must be. Protect the public’s health — and their rights.