Timmins police will focus on educating people about vaccine passports before laying charges
As the Province of Ontario gets ready to roll out its vaccine passport, police agencies throughout the province will be on standby to enforce the rules.
Beginning Sept. 22, proof of vaccination status will be required to eat indoors at restaurants and bars, to work out in gyms, go to movie theatres and other event spaces.
The province said a variety of officials will be expected to enforce the use of the passports, including police, special constables, First Nation constables, bylaw officers and public health inspectors.
The province said enforcement will be gradual, much like it has been throughout the pandemic.
Timmins Police Service officials said so far throughout the pandemic, it's been more effective to educate people first before any enforcement takes place.
"We have laid a number of charges, but those were last resort," said Marc Depatie, communications coordinator for Timmins Police Service. "Most typically, our officers tend to try and educate first, make people aware of the fact there is a law in place and they are in fact in breach and if we gain compliance, then the matter is resolved. If we don’t then a more stern enforcement approach has to be adopted.”
He added the Timmins Police Service has had some calls to 911 about people breaking COVID regulations -- customers not wearing masks, disobeying physical distancing rules and refusing to leave premises.
And, he added, some charges have been laid.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.