WINNIPEG -- The City of Winnipeg announced on Friday that it’s handed out its first penalty for breaking public health orders related to COVID-19.
Mayor Brian Bowman said on Thursday the Community Service Ambassadors had 286 positive interactions with the public. They gave out 26 verbal warnings regarding physical distancing, 17 large group warnings, and 36 closed facilities warnings.
The city also handed out its first ticket for breaking public health orders since enforcement began on April 11.
“I can report that we’ve had our first penalty handed out,” said Bowman, emphasizing that from the start of the pandemic the city didn’t want to have to hand out penalties and that residents still need to continue to respect physical distancing guidelines.
“This is more important now than ever before as the province moves to reopen parts of our economy and more people are out in the community.”
Jay Shaw, manager of the City of Winnipeg’s Emergency Operations Centre, said the incident happened just after 6 p.m. on April 26. He said people were skateboarding and congregating at a closed park.
Bylaw officers told the individuals that the site was closed, and the majority of people left.
“At this time the accused approached the officers and was verbally uncooperative and would not provide ID,” Shaw said, noting the person was belligerent to officers and said that he was aware of the prohibition orders.
Shaw said a summons was given.
“We just want to remind people that COVID-19 is still in our community and we want people to be safe,” he said.
“The number one thing you can do right now is stay home, we understand that we’re slowly opening our economy. There’s a lot of rules and restrictions, you need to be aware of them and you need to be safe.”
