City plans more patrols and fines
Everyone held a press conference Sunday. The good news from François Legault and Horacio Arruda is that although COVID-19 numbers are up, they’re not rising as fast as they have in some other places, and there were no new deaths since Saturday.
The mayor said there will be more police patrols and potentially more fines if people break public health orders.
I’m a little confused by the CBC piece, which quotes top public health honcho Dr. Mylène Drouin as saying “there are currently six areas with 50 or more confirmed cases. They are Côte Saint-Luc, Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Plateau-Mont-Royal, Ville-Marie and LaSalle.” But then later it says “Côte Saint-Luc is considered by Montreal public health officials to be among the “hot zones” in the city, along with Côte-des-Neiges, LaSalle and Parc-Extension.”
qatzelok 19:09 on 2020-03-29 Permalink
Perhaps it’s because Cote-Saint-Luc has a much smaller population than the arrondisements mentioned, that 50 or more cases translates into a much higher rate? Anyway, who in the world goes there that doesn’t live there?
Kate 20:26 on 2020-03-29 Permalink
qatzi, some people may go there to attend religious services.
I was mostly concerned about Park Ex being named in the second passage, although not the first. It too has some religious establishments. I’ve heard of events being held at one of the Greek churches until fairly recently.
Normally if someone’s religious beliefs cause them to forego medical care I figure it’s their funeral, but with a disease like COVID-19 it endangers everyone if people ignore social distancing rules. Right now it’s especially dangerous if religious ceremonies attract people from different parts of town, and then send them back home possibly with viral hitchhikers.
qatzelok 20:36 on 2020-03-29 Permalink
How is it possible to police this? Are the police going to be breaking down the doors of religious buldings to catch worshippers “in the act” of not social distancing? Seems like it would create a huge backlash.
Kate 20:45 on 2020-03-29 Permalink
Cops will have to talk to the communities. In Côte St-Luc they’d have to cast an eye on synagogues on Saturdays and holy days. Passover starts April 8 – I’ve seen pieces about how people will only be able to hold a seder with the people they’re already in the house with. Easter is on April 12 and Greek Orthodox Easter is a week later. I have no idea when Hindu and Sikh holy days are, but those affect Park Ex too, they’d have to know, and keep an eye on the temples and make sure people weren’t gathering.
Nobody wants to be the boss man who breaks up a religious service, but it’s got to be done.
Brett 20:46 on 2020-03-29 Permalink
I’m wondering if the police will enforce this using the same technique they used with the rail blockades.
JP 01:05 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
I’m Hindu and my family goes to one of the temples in Parc Ex. As far as I’m aware, the temple is closed and has been for a while now. There are no official gatherings or events taking place.
Kate 08:22 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
Thank you, JP.
Brett, the situations are not comparable.
Brett 09:43 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
I’m not so sure the situations are that different, Kate. We know that this virus came from overseas, and we also know that the hotspots in Montreal for this virus are in neighbourhoods that have a higher proportion of immigrants (Park Ex, CDN). What if, when confronted with a large gathering of minorities for religious or other reasons, the police let it slide for fear of being accused of racism?
Kate 09:55 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
They will not. There is no basis of comparison for a pandemic vs. the supposed importance of a pipeline.
walkerp 11:01 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
Brett, where to begin. Are you trolling, because that is some serious bullshit question you are asking on many levels.
vasi 11:03 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
The synagogues in Cote St Luc have also been closed for quite awhile. I think we’re seeing echoes of the large get-togethers from before the quarantine. Combine that with the return of a lot of snowbirds, and the very high number of seniors….it’s not a good recipe. But as far as I know, nobody there is insisting on having religious meetings despite the risk.
Brett 11:44 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
Not a bullshit question. The rail blockade in St Lambert was kept despite being illegal and the only reason the protesters left was because of extremely cold weather. Why were the protesters there so sure they weren’t going to face consequences from the police? And what’s to stop people from ignoring the police in this situation?
Mark Côté 14:34 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
Why do you think they were sure they weren’t going to face consequences from the police? Activists get arrested all the time. And groups of people of colour get broken up and arrests made all the time as well. I can’t even believe I had to type that…
walkerp 14:34 on 2020-03-30 Permalink
Brett, you seem to really believe what you write, so I will take the troll bait. All of your assumptions are wrong. The protestors chose to leave because they felt their message had been sent. They were not sure at all that they weren’t going to face consequences. They were scared as shit about the police. We still don’t know why the cops didn’t come in and crack heads and kill people like they did at Oka, probably because it was a very tenuous and complex political situation and for once they realized it would make things worse. Do make an effort to understand the history of the First Nations in Canada, particularily the violence they have and continue to suffer at the hands of the police.
And then what does any of that have to do with this situation? Are you suggesting that it is only non-white people who would be breaking the rules of the lockdown? And that then the police would be too scared to bust up a bunch of immigrants doing some weird ceremony because of being called racist?
Who do you think is most likely to be breaking the rules? Who do you think is most responsible for the community spread?
Chris 15:40 on 2020-03-31 Permalink
>Nobody wants to be the boss man who breaks up a religious service, but it’s got to be done.
It’s interesting to observe Israel’s reaction. Over 50% of the cases there are ultra Orthodox, even though they represent just 10% of the population.
See for example: https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-israel-s-ultra-orthodox-jews-face-coronavirus-devastation-they-need-face-masks-1.8728283
Choice quote: “… Yaakov Litzman, Israel’s minister of health, believes that this is going to end with messianic intervention.” We shall see! 🙂