June 8, 2021
COVID-19 Enforcement Update
The Manitoba government is providing an update on ongoing enforcement efforts to protect Manitobans from the spread of COVID-19.
A total of 219 warnings and 131 tickets were issued for the week of May 31 to June 6 including:
• 124 $1,296 tickets to individuals;
• five $298 tickets to individuals for failure to wear a mask in indoor public places; and
• one $5,000 ticket to a business.
Enforcement officials note that they have also sworn an information under the legislation to a business for repeated offences, where the courts will determine the fine amount. Officials advise that 116 of the 124 tickets to individuals were in relation to gatherings in private residences or outdoors. Gatherings at private residences continue to be an issue, and will remain a focus of enforcement in the coming weeks to ensure individuals who continue to disregard the public health orders are held to account.
Enforcement officials also continue to investigate several recent large gatherings and rallies, and additional charges are expected.
As the weather continues to warm up, Manitobans are advised that conservation and park patrol officers are enforcing public health and state of emergency orders within provincial parks, and issued 35 tickets to individuals over the past week for various offences.
Fine amounts for violating public health orders have been set at $298 for not wearing a mask in indoor public places, $1,296 for tickets issued to individuals for various offences, including sole proprietorships and partnerships, and $5,000 for tickets issued to corporations.
The Manitoba government has made amendments to the Preset Fines and Offence Descriptions Regulation and the Provincial Offences General Regulation under the Provincial Offences Act to strengthen provincial public health order enforcement for repeat offenders including increased fines for individuals and doubled default conviction amount.
Unpaid fines for tickets for Public Health Act offences proceed through the provincial offences court. If the ticket is not responded to during the response period indicated on the ticket, the individual would be default convicted and a $100 default conviction penalty would be applied. In such cases, the individual would also be prohibited from renewing a driver’s license or vehicle registration until the amount is paid. Unpaid amounts are also sent to a collections agency for further collection action.
Information related to unpaid fines for tickets is available on Manitoba Justice’s website at www.gov.mb.ca/justice/tickets/index.html.
Almost 3,300 personnel across various agencies are empowered to enforce public health orders to protect Manitobans. This includes RCMP, law enforcement agencies, provincial employees and municipal partners, such as the City of Winnipeg.
Since enforcement efforts began in April 2020, a total of 4,727 warnings and 1,812 tickets have been issued, resulting in over $2.4 million in fines to businesses and individuals.
Updated enforcement statistics are posted online weekly at:
https://manitoba.ca/openmb/infomb/departments/index.html#cdr.
Manitobans are urged to continue reporting compliance and enforcement issues by visiting www.manitoba.ca/COVID19 and completing the reporting form, or by calling 204-945-3744 or (toll-free) 1-866-626-4862 and pressing option three on the call menu.
Additional data related to COVID-19, including data on enforcement, vaccines, outbreaks as well as some downloadable and historic data, can be found at https://geoportal.gov.mb.ca/.
The Manitoba government is taking strong action to protect Manitobans and ensure timely access to care. Current orders under the Public Health Act are available at:
https://manitoba.ca/asset_library/en/proactive/20212022/orders-soe-06022021.pdf.
Manitobans are reminded to adhere to all current public health orders and stay home. Stick to the fundamentals of physical distancing, hand washing and wearing a mask. For more information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19.
For information about activities designed to make staying home a little easier, visit Safe at Home Manitoba at www.safeathomemb.ca/.
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