COVID-19: What is the City of Quesnel doing?

Courtesy of the City of Quesnel:

I want to thank the people who took the time to read through my last update and understood the point I was clarifying: that the City is not the lead agency in this emergency so we neither have the authority some people demand us to exercise nor can we release information we don’t have. For those who are still not convinced (and some who think I was just passing the buck and making excuses to “do nothing”), have a read of the 14-page document the province issued on March 31 to clarify the role of local bylaw enforcement officers during this pandemic: https://bit.ly/2V6gkBN. If you don’t have the time for the whole 14-page document, here’s a direct quote from that document: “Police Officers and (Bylaw Officers) are not empowered to enforce (i.e. ticket or detain) with respect to public health orders. Their role is to provide assistance only when called upon by a health officer.” So, when people call the City and demand that we jail someone who won’t self-isolate or close a business down that they believe should not be open, they are asking us to do something we’re not legally empowered to do. However, our Bylaw Officers are absolutely doing what we’ve been asked to focus their time on: educate the public and businesses about the provincial health orders, help everyone to improve and enhance social distancing, and, if necessary, assist public health officers. Fortunately, Quesnel businesses are voluntarily complying with the health orders (including the non-essential businesses that still have a legal right to remain open) and, in general, the public is practicing social distancing. The other major area of confusion, and some consternation, is why the City (or the Mayor) won’t tell the public if we have any COVID cases in our community. Again, this information is the purview of Northern Health not the City. The City, like the general public, has no right of access to this information. However, that doesn’t mean we’re not actively partnering with Northern Health by actively taking steps to help stop the spread of the virus and preventing any outbreak here and by amplifying public health communications through our City’s website and social media (visit www.quesnel.ca/COVID-19). As a City, we agree with Dr. Bonnie Henry’s decision to not name communities with confirmed COVID cases -- we all simply need to act as if our community does have confirmed cases! Knowing we don’t have any cases here could be hugely counterproductive to our efforts to stop the spread of the virus, as too many people would likely use this “all clear” information to relax the physical distancing discipline we must continue to exercise to stop the spread. Not being the legal authority during this pandemic doesn’t mean the City is not taking an “all hands on deck” approach and playing the most progressive and proactive supporting role that we can. Our Emergency Operations Centre is activated; we’ve started a business roundtable and will be launching a business hotline with our partners to ensure our businesses get access to every penny being made available to them; we’ll be initiating a social services roundtable this week to make sure our seniors and more vulnerable population get all the supports being made available to them; and, this week Council will begin the process of completely rethinking our strategic plan and the City’s budget in light of this pandemic and its negative socio-economic consequences on our community. By playing our appropriate role with respect to this public health emergency, Council and the City can focus on what we can do rather than wasting our energy meddling in areas where we don’t belong. Bob Simpson is the Mayor of Quesnel.  He can be reached via email here