Despite most pandemic-related travel restrictions between Canada and the US being lifted for months, charges handed out when they were in effect are still filtering through the courts.
Another case concluded late last week in a Sarnia courtroom, where Taniya Douglas pleaded guilty to failing to comply with an order under the Quarantine Act.
The court heard Douglas drove over the Blue Water Bridge from Michigan to the Sarnia area on March 8 without proof of a suitable pre-arrival test. A negative molecular PCR test within 72 hours of arriving in Canada was required then for all land travellers, including Canadians, crossing the border.
“She was deemed not to be exempt from pre-arrival testing as she was unvaccinated,” assistant Crown attorney Lori MacIntosh said while reading the facts.
Douglas also didn’t check in with the ArriveCAN app before crossing that Tuesday as required.
“The defendant advised she would not fill out ArriveCAN due to personal beliefs in regards to it. She advised she would not get COVID tests due to personal beliefs,” MacIntosh said.
A Canadian citizen, Douglas was still permitted by border officers to leave and come into Canada but was issued a court summons with three charges. After pleading guilty to one of them, the others were withdrawn.
MacIntosh suggests a $300 fine.
“It could have obviously been a lot more significant due to the level of fine that could have been levied with the three charges,” the assistant Crown said.
MacIntosh also pointed out the Quarantine Act was legislation that was intended to be followed at that time, but a lower fine balanced those needs along with changes that have been made since then.
Testing was dropped in the spring while the ArriveCAN app was scrapped earlier this fall.
Justice of the peace Debra Isaac imposed the suggested fine and gave Douglas two months to pay.
The fine was similar to the penalties handed out in a Sarnia courtroom in late September just as the app was dismissed. A few months earlier, however, a Huntsville-area father who encouraged his family to ignore border testing rules when returning from the US to Canada at the Sarnia-area crossing was slapped with a $1,500 fine.