REGINA -- As the Regina Police Service continues to deal with people who are breaking COVID-19 related public health orders, it says it is focusing on organizers of large rallies instead of all participants.
According to its March stats, RPS received 75 COVID-19 calls and issued eight tickets as a result.
March’s calls were down from the months before.
In January, there were 139 calls and 11 tickets issued. In February, there were 108 calls and eight tickets issued.
April’s numbers are still being calculated, but will include at least four tickets that were issued at a “Freedom Rally” held at Victoria Park in downtown Regina on Saturday.
Police chief Evan Bray said there were 60-80 people there at some points but only four have been issued tickets to date.
He said it is difficult for police to differentiate people’s intentions in those situations.
“It’s impossible for us to write tickets to every single person. And it’s impossible for us to know whether people are there participating in the rally or they’re out for a nice afternoon walk with their family and wanting to enjoy the park,” Bray said.
That’s why police mainly focus on rally organizers. The chief said Regina police started investigating days before the rally took place, which helped them provide necessary enforcement and hold certain people accountable.
“It’s no different than the example I’ve used of a noisy party. If we go to a noisy party, we will often hold one person accountable for something that might be breaking a law,” Chief Bray said. “In this case, we worked very collaboratively with the RCMP, with Saskatoon police and with Winnipeg police. There is ongoing work that’s still happening in terms of investigation.”
In order to charge everyone who took part in the rally, Bray said it would take a large number of officers.
“The reality is sometimes people come and go, they dissipate,” he said. “At the end of the day, sometimes going out there with a crowd control team and blocking access to a park generates more problems, insights more anger and actually escalates a situation.”
He said he’s often been asked how police can help prevent the freedom rally gatherings from happening.
“We can’t prevent that sort of gathering from happening. But we can make sure it happens safely and hold people accountable that organize something that might be against the public health order,” he said.
Police say the investigation into Saturday’s rally is ongoing.
PROVINCIAL TICKETS
The Ministry of Justice said as of March 31, 106 charges were made under The Public Health Act for violations of public health orders.
Of those 106 charges, 11 have resulted in convictions. Only five had fully paid.
The Ministry of Justice said 83 charges are pending a court date and resolution. The remaining 12 charges were withdrawn, a nullity or jurisdiction was lost.
“Jurisdiction is lost when specific circumstances outside of the accused’s control mean the case can not proceed as scheduled,” the Ministry of Justice said in an email to CTV News Regina. “Most times when a case cannot proceed, jurisdiction is not lost.”
“When charges are deferred or when they are not proceeded with, that’s based on the evidence collected on any one particular incident,” Minister of Justice Gordon Wyant said. “I expect the prosecutorial branch to exercise caution when they’re doing that, but certainly to the extent that certain charges don’t proceed, that’s based on the prosecutorial independence,”
Wyant said there will be legislation tabled during this session to increase the fines associated with breaking COVID-19 public health orders. The fines will only apply to charges going forward and will not be retroactive.
The Courts of Saskatchewan said these tickets are dealt with in the same way as provincial offence tickets, such as traffic tickets. This means offenders can pay tickets voluntarily by a deadline, or appear in court to plead guilty or non guilty. If someone pleads not guilty, a date will be set for a trial.
The courts have seen some delays in ticket dockets because of the COVID-19 pandemic,
“There is a build-up of matters to be heard in some locations,” Dawn Blaus, the communications officer of the Courts of Saskatchewan said in an email. “As a result, new tickets in those locations are often written for a date well into the future and have not yet come under the jurisdiction of the court.”
