MP’s Demand Quarantine Hotel Suspension Following Sexual Assault Cases
February 25, 2021 ctn_admin
A group of federal Conservative Party MP’s are calling for the Trudeau government to suspend the mandatory hotel quarantine program following a reported sexual assault at a Montreal hotel.
La Presse and the Montreal Gazette report that a woman from San Diego was assaulted on Feb. 17 at the Sheraton Montreal Airport hotel. Reports say the woman arrived in Canada on Feb. 16 without a proper COVID-19 test and was sent to a hotel for her mandatory, 14-day quarantine.
The incident took place before the government passed an order requiring all air travellers to be tested for COVID-19 upon arrival in Canada and then quarantine at an airport hotel for up to three days at their own cost. The Sheraton Montreal Airport hotel is not currently on the list of approved hotels for the new quarantine program, which came into effect on Monday, Feb. 22.
CTV reports that a Windsor man faces one count of sexual assault, one count of breaking and entering and one count of criminal harassment following the Montreal incident.
In another incident, a quarantine screening officer is alleged to have demanded money from and then sexually assaulted a woman while he was doing a quarantine-compliance check at her home in Oakville on Feb. 18.
A 27-year-old Hamilton man has been charged in the case, Canadian Press reports.
“We are deeply angered to hear reports of sexual violence are happening during federally mandated quarantines,” said MP’s Michelle Rempel Garner, Shannon Stubbs, Richard Martel and Jag Sahota. “We call for the Liberals to suspend the hotel quarantine requirement until they have put measures in place to ensure the safety of Canadians.”
There are now 31 hotels in the new airport hotel quarantine program brought in by the federal government on Monday; two in Calgary, nine in Vancouver, 10 in Toronto and 10 in Montreal.
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In what way is this quarantine requirement not a form of arbitrary detention? How can you make a regulation by breaking the principle of law no matter what the excuse? Canadians should be able to return home and self-isolate. With the large amount of necessary travel across the Canada/US border, COVID variants are already moving silently among us. This quarantine requirement is political action designed to show how “we are dong something” and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Government by Health Care edict is not democracy. Vaccination is our only real defense as far as we know. The real discussion should be about our lack of and therefore our need of health security in relation to our current lack of ability to produce/manufacture anti-COVID19 vaccines, a long-standing, politically, and industrially complex issue. Not very attractive to talk about when it comes to getting votes. We should put a martial effort into manufacturing vaccines going into the future. So for now, while waiting for our turn to be vaccinated, we mask, social distance, and wash our hands.