Another person has been hit with a hefty fine for failing to follow border-crossing rules at the Blue Water Bridge near Sarnia that were in place amid the peak of the pandemic.
Aganetha Neufeld was charged with failing to comply with an order under the Quarantine Act linked to an incident at the international crossing between Michigan and Point Edward, Ont., on Sept. 10, 2021. The province’s emergency response legislation is no longer in effect, but charges ugly when it was are still being prosecuted.
A Sarnia courtroom heard Neufeld was sent a notice of trial, but she didn’t show up.
“Therefore there will be a finding of guilt and a conviction will register,” justice of the peace Debra Isaac said.
under the Provincial Offenses Act, a defendant is considered to not be disputing the charge when they fail to appear at their trial and they can be convicted. The court did not hear any details of the incident as the trial was not held.
Isaac noted the minimum fine for this conviction is $5,000 and no one was there to make a legal argument about a potential exceptional circumstance or if it was too oppressive.
“Therefore I am obligated to impose the minimum fine of $5,000, plus costs,” she said, noting Neufeld will have 30 days to pay the penalty.
At least four other people have been hit with the same fine in recent months after failing to show up for their trials in Sarnia courtrooms on the same charges. A couple from the small Oxford County community of Otterville were fined $10,000 in total and a senior with ties to Southwestern Ontario and a Sarnia realtor were both hit with $5,000 fine.