City bylaw officers start crackdown

Thestar.com
April 3, 2020
Francine Kopun

Even before Toronto Mayor John Tory yesterday announced drastic new measures to enforce social distancing in parks and public squares, bylaw enforcement officers were fanning out across the city to stop people from tossing aside barricades in order to park near beaches and from tearing down signs and climbing over locked fences to play on soccer pitches.

Accompanied in some cases by police officers, they were dispatched to hot spots across Toronto -- places where people have been seen and were reported to 311 for using facilities that have been closed to the public under emergency orders, to help stop the spread of COVID-19.

As of Thursday afternoon, there were 897 COVID-19 cases in the city, including 727 confirmed and 170 probable cases; 86 in hospital; 39 in intensive care and 11 dead.

“This is a deadly virus that has already tragically claimed the lives of Toronto residents,” said Tory, after announcing a new bylaw, requiring people in parks and public squares to remain two metres apart. It will be in effect for at least the next 30 days and could result in a fine of up to $5,000. The city is seeking the power to levy set $750 fines.

“Given the surging cases and deaths that we have seen in New York and Italy we must do everything we can to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Tory is operating under an emergency declaration and does not have to seek council’s approval to pass bylaws.

The number of so-called “hot-spots” in the city -- where people are continuing to gather, busting through barricades and neglecting to remain six feet apart from strangers, as prescribed -- has grown to 42.

They include Exhibition Place; Canoe Landing; Humber Bay Parks East and West; Balmy Beach Park; Allan Gardens; Sunnybrook Park and Rouge Beach, among others, according to Carleton Grant, executive director of municipal licensing and standards.

Two hundred bylaw officers have been called back to serve and are working with police, including mounted police, as part of the city’s COVID-19 enforcement team, which also includes public health inspectors who can enforce the new quarantine orders issued Wednesday by Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Eileen de Villa.

Concrete blocks will be dropped at the entrance to some parking lots.

“I regret the fact that we have to do this. You’d think that locking the parking lots and putting up gates and padlocking them would be enough,” said Tory.

The task of enforcing the new measures is itself governed by social distancing -- bylaw officers try as much as possible to maintain a two-metre distance from the people they are stopping.

They have been provided with instructions, including suggestions on how to maintain the two-metre separation -- for example, if they need to see ID, they can ask the person they’ve stopped to put it on the hood of their car.

The bylaw does exempt them from the two-metre rule, however, to allow them to perform their job as needed.

City bylaw manager Scott Sullivan said putting bylaw officers in charge of the new social distancing rules is a change for them.

“We are enforcing regulations on behaviour that is normally considered acceptable and even encouraged,” said Sullivan.

“We receive a mixed response from individuals (when we approach them), but our staff have been able to articulate the importance of physical distancing to create a mutual understanding.

“Our staff have also been waved at, honked at, and thanked by many members of the public for being out there performing this extremely important task.”

Tory said the city has received 1,180 complaints since March 24 and city staff has responded to 288 and issued 34 notices for failure to comply with the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act.

He said that since March 24, 279 bars and restaurants have been identified as non-compliant; 94 were closed and 12 warning letters were issued.

Toronto Public Health meanwhile, shut down 54 personal care service operators, including nail salons and hairdressers, that were still operating, despite the provincial order for all non-essential businesses to close.