Public Safety Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Let's proceed and we'll work out the sound quality as we go along here.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

There doesn't seem to have been any clear direction from the Public Health Agency of Canada, or any coordination between the various police forces, in terms of the fines that police officers are supposed to give to people who decide to skip the mandatory hotel quarantine and go straight home. For example, a Toronto police officer fined someone for about $880, which seems to be much better than the $2,000 for the quarantine.

Was there a clear policy, or is the amount of the fine given arbitrary and varies by police force? Do we know how many fines were issued? As of yesterday, there was talk of about 15 fines being issued, but do we know if fines were issued to all the people who flouted the rules by going straight home?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Good evening, my name is Brigitte Diogo and I am able to answer this question.

We work closely with the various police forces involved in enforcing and monitoring the quarantine. We provide them with guidelines and information sessions. The amount of the fine is not discretionary: it is $3,000 for anyone who does not comply with the order. We will be able to provide the committee with the specific number of fines issued since the order was implemented. The number continues to grow.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

That would be appreciated, thank you.

So are you able to confirm that the 15 fines issued up to yesterday were for $3,000?

[Brigitte Diogo]

More than 15 fines have been given so far, because different parts of the law have different types of fines. If we are talking about a fine directly related to the order, however, the amount is $3,000 and it is not discretionary. Most of the fines issued to date have been just that.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

We have Mr. Harris for six minutes, please.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you, Chair.

I have a question for Dr. Kochhar.

You did say there was an issue with respect to locks. We talked to Mr. Stewart about that before and he said there was no mandate by the Public Health Agency that there should be no locks. But I asked whether there was an mandate that there should be locks. You seemed to say, on the one hand, that this is left up to the hotels, and then you talk about enhanced security.

Could you explain exactly how you ensured that the people were safe in hotels?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

What I'm explaining is that as a hotel policy there are always locks on the doors. There is not a room that does not have a lock on the door. There are different ways to open the door, but that is a standard in—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I understand that. I've been in hotels; we've all been in hotels. We heard that people were told not to lock their doors or people had non-locked doors. Did you know about this? Did you put a stop to it? What did you do to fix this problem once you heard about it?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

As I mentioned earlier, Mr. Chair, we have been working closely with the Hotel Association of Canada—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I understand that. What did you do about the lock situation when you heard that people were in unlocked rooms?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

We have given guidance to the Hotel Association to provide—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

The Hotel Association doesn't run the hotels. The Hotel Association is an industry organization. Did you actually tell the hotels—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

That's what it does.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

—you had contracted that they must do this, or did you go and inspect them or ensure there was proper security there?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, again, this is a regular procedure. We work through the Hotel Association—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

It's a very simple question. Did you and your organization provide any enhanced security as a result of these concerns that were expressed, or was it a situation, as usual, of dealing with an industry association and assuming they followed procedures?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, I would like to re-emphasize the fact that, yes, we work closely with the Hotel Association, but we also make sure our presence in those areas.... The security we have on site is actually briefed on any of these kinds of concerns. That takes place as a normal matter of fact as we go forward.

As we continue to enhance our approach to that, that is a continuous way of working with—

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Do you have security services of your own that are at these quarantine hotels, yes or no?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

We have Public Health Agency of Canada people in there. We also have the security services over there, which are contracted services.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Are they contracted services or your own, not the hotels'?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

It's not the hotels' services.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

It's very hard to get a straight answer, I'm afraid.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Indeed.