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251Civil
Liberties vs. Public Health
provincial, and municipal responses to COVID-19. As discussed in
the first part of this volume dealing with federalism, Canadian prov-
inces and municipalities have imposed various restrictions: limiting
public gatherings; locking down prisons and mental health facilities;
stopping visitors to long-term care homes; closing all but essential
businesses; restricting recreational amenities; and imposing manda-
tory quarantine orders against specific individuals.2 The federal gov-
ernment, employing the Quarantine Act, has limited entry into the
country and now imposes a two-week quarantine on citizens return-
ing from abroad. Many of these measures are enforced by significant
fines (for example, up to $100,000 for a first offence and $500,000 for a
second offence in Alberta)3 and even imprisonment (Ontario’s limita-
tion on social gatherings is punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and
up to a year’s imprisonment).4
On their face, many of these measures seem to interfere with
Charter rights to freedom of assembly, freedom of mobility, and free-
dom of religion for would-be churchgoers. Further, as the pandemic
has unfolded, it has become clearer that significant testing and contact
tracing using cell phone GPS records may be an important tool to bat-
tle COVID-19, yet absent consent, this conflicts with privacy rights.5
Similarly, as hope for the end of the pandemic centres on developing
a vaccine or treatment, the future prospect of mandatory vaccination
regimes (even if limited to essential workers and at-risk populations)
may raise questions of conscience and religious freedom.6 There has
also been some discussion of introducing legal penalties for indi-
viduals spreading harmful misinformation about the disease and
treatment—a move that would no doubt engage the Charter right
to freedom of expression.7 In this chapter, we contrast and evaluate
2. Rob Ferguson, “Use Law to Impose COVID-19 Quarantines, Ontario’s Chief
Medical Officer Tells Local Health Officials”, Toronto Star (1 April 2020), online:
<www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/04/01/ontarios-chief-medical-offi-
cer-dr-david-williams-strongly-urging-law-restricting-movements-of-covid-
19-patients.html>; Health Protection and Promotion Act, RSO 1990, c H.7, s 22.
3. Public Health Act, RSA 2000, c P-37, s 73(3); Bill 10, PublicÂ
HealthÂ
(EmergencyÂ
Powers)Â
Amendment Act, 2nd Sess, 30th Leg, Alberta, 2020, s 9(b)(ii)—(iii) (assented to
2 April 2020).
4. Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act,Â
RSO 1990, c E.9, s 7.0.11(1)(a).
5. See Teresa Scassa, Jason Millar & Kelly Bronson, this volume, Chapter C-2.
6. Richard Moon, Freedom of Conscience and Religion (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2014).
7. Elizabeth Thompson, “Federal Government Open to New Law to Fight Pandemic
Misinformation”, CBC News (15 April 2020), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/politics/
covid-misinformation-disinformation-law-1.5532325>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International