Torontonians have complained a lot about COVID-19 rule breaking. But what about enforcement?

Thestar.com
Feb.1, 2021
Jennifer Pagliaro and Celina Gallardo

Torontonians have been prolific complainers about their fellow citizens not following lockdown rules, data from the city’s 311 hotline shows.

But few of those calls appear to have led to enforcement or even warnings to alleged rule-breakers, including hundreds of complaints about people not wearing masks in the common areas of apartments and condos.

Between April 1 and Dec. 21, the city received 50,986 COVID-19-related complaints, data reviewed by the Star shows.

More than half of those complaints -- 26,331 -- fell under the “not physical distancing” category as assigned by 311 staff. The other categories include: Not self-isolating as directed by public health (835); non-essential businesses open (9,713); removal of park barriers (1,592); non-essential construction continuing (1,068); park use (4,694); and individuals not wearing masks (6,753).

At the same time, enforcement data published by the city suggests few charges have been laid overall.

That data, posted on the city’s website, shows fewer than 2,000 charges related to COVID-19 orders like parks use between April and mid-January 2021.

Officials have noted they focused on education early on in the pandemic with constantly changing rules. For example, more than 13,000 “education” interactions were recorded in April related to parks use. A total of 40,311 instances were recorded between April and November.

The source of complaints to the 311 line, Steve Joordens, a professor of psychology at University of Toronto Scarborough, is what he says are two health crises -- the physical one and the mental one.

If you imagine a line, he said, everyone is at different points on that spectrum in terms of concern related to the pandemic.

It’s those primarily concerned with physical health -- contracting the virus -- who are likely the ones calling 311, Joordens said, in some ways using it as a sounding board because those calls do not appear to be resulting in mass enforcement.

“I think these are people who are much more focused on the physical health worries ... and they’re seeing people focused on the mental health worries,” he said.

It’s reasonable enforcement has focused on blatant rule-breakers who are stubbornly thumbing their nose at provincial and municipal regulations while using education elsewhere with those confused about the new rules or making less riskier decisions, he said, but that may not alleviate the concerns people have, especially if they are vulnerable to COVID-19 or have a family member who is.

Meanwhile, those focused on their mental well-being may be justifying “cutting corners” on physical distancing, mask-wearing and more, he said -- prompting the number of complaints the city has seen.

“When they see any indiscretion in terms of the rule abiding it makes them angry, it makes them fearful.”

The lack of enforcement is exemplified by the almost 2,000 complaints about people failing to wear masks in common areas of apartment buildings and condos.

As some questioned the efficacy of the new rules, Mayor John Tory asked city staff to “drill down” on those 1,950 complaints specifically, with a focus on repeat offenders.

On Wednesday, the city said it would conduct additional education and enforcement in apartments and condos where there have been multiple complaints.

A press release said 263 locations have received three or more complaints and 12 buildings have more than 10 mask-wearing complaints.

Residential apartment buildings are the source of most of the complaints, compared to condos.

The city said letters would be sent to landlords and property managers of problem buildings and that the city’s building standards team would follow-up in-person with landlords at the 12 worst sites.

According to a city spokesperson, provincial regulation doesn’t require individuals to be charged if they don’t wear a mask in an apartment building or condo. The spokesperson said that upon receiving a complaint, the city gets the RentSafeTO team to remind building owners on what they’re required to do under the bylaw.

The city bylaw puts the onus on owners or operators, requiring them to have a policy to ensure masks are worn in common spaces like elevators and laundry rooms and to close non-essential spaces like spas and gyms. They’re also required to provide hand sanitizer and post corresponding signage.

At an earlier media briefing, Tory noted the city’s bylaw, which came into effect on Aug. 5, was one of the first of its kind.

Tory noted that it’s “virtually impossible” to have inspectors or police officers enforcing the bylaw for all 3,500 of the city’s apartment buildings. Currently, the city has not issued any charges.

Some residents have sent their complaints directly to Josh Matlow, both via email and phone calls. The Toronto-St. Paul’s city councillor thinks the city can do better in protecting apartment and condo-dwelling Torontonians.

“We have literally thousands of Torontonians who think that they’re calling the city to get the help that they need and find out that there’s nobody who’s going to come to help. And we need to fix that,” Matlow said.

Matlow believes it’s a building owner’s responsibility to do everything they can to promote COVID-19 safety measures, but he said it shouldn’t stop there.

“I understand that onus, but it shouldn’t end with that because in the real world, landlords are not walking from floor to floor in their building, enforcing the rules,” Matlow said. “That just doesn’t happen.”

Matlow wants to see the bylaw change so that individuals can be held accountable for refusing to wear a mask. He’ll be bringing up his concerns at the next city council meeting.

The busiest single days for overall complaints were mostly in the spring, when provincial and city orders were new. Far fewer complaints were lodged through the summer months, when case counts were relatively low in Toronto.

Other complaints, like improper mask wearing, have been fairly steady since becoming mandatory in Toronto in early July.

Complaints on non-essential businesses being opened peaked again when Toronto entered a new lockdown category in November.