New West residents are still reporting folks who may not be complying with COVID-19 public health orders.
The City of New Westminster continues to receive complaints about compliance with public health orders related to COVID-19.
The current provincial health officer's order on gatherings and events prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people. An owner or operator is allowed to have events attended by up to 50 patrons if a number of conditions are met, such as collecting contact information about attendees, having space that allows for social distancing and closely monitoring the number of patrons, and providing hand sanitation.
“We have received some complaints about large gatherings. Most notably, two weeks ago there was some complaints about a car show that attracted possibly over 100 people. That was addressed, and that shouldn’t be occurring again,” said Kim Deighton, the city’s manager of licensing and integrated services. “Other than that, they have mostly been reports of gatherings in parks and open spaces that have been, say, 10, 15, 20, 25 people.”
According to Deighton, staff have worked together to determine how they can be advised ahead of time whether those groups actually have authorization to use a park in that way and have been vetted for COVID safety practices.
In August, the province introduced new measures aimed at enforcement of COVID-19 public safety.
Police and other provincial enforcement officers can now issue $2,000 violation tickets for owners or organizers contravening the provincial health officer's order on gatherings and events. This includes hosting a private party or public event in excess of 50 people, failing to provide appropriate hand sanitation and washroom facilities, failing to provide sufficient space in the venue for physical distancing and failing to obtain a list of names and contacts at large.
In addition, they can also issue $200 violation tickets to individuals who don’t follow the direction of police or enforcement staff at events or refuse to comply with requests to follow the provincial health officer’s orders or safe operating procedures, or respond with abusive behaviour.
Deighton said city staff has been working with the New Westminster Police Department about the city’s response to reports of gatherings of 50 or more people.
“Bylaw will first accept the complaints and then vet them and pass them on to police,” she said. “Smaller ones, less than 50, will be dealt with by fire and COVID compliance officers and bylaw officers.”
In some cases, said Deighton, people may not be quite clear on the rules or may be reporting an authorized event, so staff would be ensuring clear, substantial, well-founded complaints are forwarded to the police.
City officials continue to respond to complaints made to the city’s COVID compliance line, which has been up and running since the end of March.
“We continue to get complaints about a variety of COVID issues through that compliance line,” Deighton said. “Right now, complaints are about four a day. They have increased slightly, and we expect they may continue to increase because we are in the second wave and also because of that announcement.”
In addition to calling the COVID compliance line to report gatherings attended by more than 50 people, community members can also contact the New Westminster Police Department directly on its non-emergency line.
“Anything under 50, the bylaw officers and the COVID compliance officers will be investigating those and responding – either in real time during regular business hours, or if the event has already occurred we would be following up and doing kind of an after-the-fact investigation and contacting people,” she said. “The bylaw officers are not able to ticket; only police officers are able to ticket.”
According to the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General, if violation tickets do not act as a deterrent, or in cases of particularly egregious contraventions or for repeat offenders, police can recommend charges in relation to the offence. On conviction, judicial penalties of up to $10,000 may be levied.
