Published Friday, July 9, 2021 11:42AM EDT
Last Updated Friday, July 9, 2021 3:12PM EDT
Toronto’s decision to issue hundreds of tickets to people found using closed park amenities in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was “generally unfair” given the “fragmented” and “confusing” messaging around what was and wasn’t allowed, a new report from the city’s ombudsman has found.
Ombudsman Susan Opler conducted an enquiry into Toronto’s enforcement of COVID-19 rules in city parks over a six-week period in the spring of 2020 after receiving 10 separate complaints from people who “felt they had been penalized not for flouting the COVID-19 rules on the use of city parks, but for simply being unaware of them, or not fully understanding them.”