Hirji fears rally will worsen COVID-19 caseload
Could be weeks before tickets are issued over anti-lockdown march
Police and bylaw officers could still be issuing tickets or summonses weeks from now against the hundreds of antilockdown protesters who marched in St. Catharines on Saturday in defiance of the province’s public safety laws.
“We’re still in the process of collecting and compiling evidence,” said Niagara Region spokesperson Andrew Korchok.
“Once that’s complete, we actually have to track down these people and then deliver the tickets or summonses, and that process can take quite a while,” he said.
Meanwhile, acting medical officer of health Dr. Mustafa Hirji said the march might further spread COVID-19 at a time Niagara is struggling with surging infection rates.
“Particularly,” he said, “since we’re dealing with people who are already not taking COVID-19 seriously.
“So if they did have symptoms of illness, they probably wouldn’t be as responsible to isolate,” he added. “You layer in that they were not wearing masks, not trying to keep physical distance — that’s all going to add to it.”
More than 1,000 marchers without masks paraded on Lake Street, at times stopping traffic, before rallying at a strip plaza.
Some carried signs falsely labelling the pandemic a hoax or calling business restrictions and government stay-at-home orders unfair intrusions on their rights.
The province’s emergency stay-at-home order limits outdoor gatherings to no more than five people.
Speakers — including West Lincoln Mayor Dave Bylsma — wrongly claimed governments exaggerate the risks of the coronavirus, saying “fear is how they have been controlling us.”
It’s believed another protest is planned for this weekend in Niagara Falls.
On Monday, Ontario reported more than 4,000 new COVID-19 cases.
In Niagara, since April 1, the number of active cases has nearly doubled to 1,062 from 574, including 151 involving highly contagious variants.
This month 1,300 new cases have been reported and on Monday there were 39 COVID-19 patients in Niagara hospitals, including 12 in intensive care. The ICU was operating at 88 per cent capacity.
Niagara Regional Police officers were on duty at Saturday’s protest, as was a Niagara Region bylaw enforcement officer.
On Monday, an NRP spokesperson would only say via email “the investigation into the protest remains active and ongoing with charges pending.”
Korchok said the Region officer took the same approach as police, who attended for crowd control and public safety and will issue tickets later.
A ticket for violating the Reopening Ontario Act carries a set fine of $750 but a Part 3 summons includes a date to answer to charges in court and a maximum fine of $100,000 for individuals. He declined to say how the bylaw department would gather evidence or if it relies on photos from the event.
Tracking down some of the people involved could take weeks.
Korchok declined to discuss possible charges against Bylsma or local businesspeople who have protested in the past.
“We’d follow the same process no matter who the individual is,” he said.
In January, about 35 people protested the provincial lockdown in front of St. Catharines city hall, claiming they wanted to “arrest” Mayor Walter Sendzik.
They met, without masks, in defiance of provincial public health emergency orders that limited outdoor gatherings to no more than five people.
In that instance, Korchok said, the region’s investigation took more than two months but led to four Part 3 summonses being issued. A summons, rather than a ticket, is issued “mainly in cases of sustained and sort of blatant noncompliance after we’ve already tried other means of enforcement,” he said.
Last year, there were several large-scale Black Lives Matter protests in Niagara following the death in Minnesota of George Floyd during a police arrest.
At those events, Hirji said, nearly all of the marchers were masked and tried to maintain safe social distance.
Niagara then was reporting only a few new cases each day, unlike the 107 recorded Monday, and few cases were traced back to the marches.
“Right now, there is a much greater likelihood that someone in that crowd could be infected, particularly since we’re dealing with people who are already not taking COVID-19 seriously.”