SUDBURY -- A 72-year-old resident of Gauthier Township, east of Kirkland Lake, has been charged with breaking the Quarantine Act for failing to self-isolate after entering Canada from another country.
Kirkland Lake Ontario Provincial Police received a request from Health Canada on Nov. 18 to do a compliance check on the senior to ensure they were self-isolating.
"Officers began an investigation and found that the person subject to the Quarantine Act had entered Canada arriving from another country," police said in a news release Friday.
"The investigation revealed that the individual was in non-compliance with the mandatory 14-day self-isolation requirement upon entering Canada."
The person is charged with violating section 15(3) of the Quarantine Act, which carries with it a maximum fine of $200,000, six months in jail or both.
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, as of the end of October, more than one million travellers have been ordered to quarantine or isolate at home. Of those, more than 247,000 were flagged to law enforcement for physical check-ins.
On March 25, Canada implemented an Emergency Order under the Quarantine Act requiring all travellers coming from abroad -- discounting asymptomatic essential workers -- to quarantine for 14 days with or without symptoms.
The order requires travellers to go immediately to their place of quarantine without coming into contact with people, unless being housed in one of the federal quarantine sites, and only leaving the home for time-sensitive medical services.
