B.C. road checks for COVID-19 travel ban now allowed
Last Updated May 1, 2021 at 11:06 am PDT
Summary Counter attack style road checks can now be set up to question people who are leaving their travel zones
Passengers will not be questioned about their reasons for travel, BC. s public safety minister said
Visiting someone in long-term care, escaping abuse added to list of essential reasons for travel
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – RCMP in B.C. can now set up road checks at certain spots in the province to prevent people from travelling for non-essential reasons outside of their zones.
The measures are in place in the province’s effort to curb spread of COVID-19, especially variants of concern. People violating the restrictions could be fined hundreds of dollars.
Police checkpoints to be set up between BC regions to stop non-essential travel
Police road checks will be set up to enforce rules blocking non-essential travel between British Columbia health regions.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said the checkpoints will be set up along highway corridors that connect the different regions of the province.
Police will be able to fine drivers found to be contravening public health orders $575.
The regions are:
Vancouver Island (Island Health region)
Northern/Interior (Interior Health and Northern Health regions)
The road checks could be in place at any time until the order – issued on April 23 – is lifted at 12:01 am on May 25.
That was hardly surprising, since India is in the midst of a major outbreak, with up to 350,000 cases reported daily. India might also be the source of a new coronavirus variant. Over the same period, flights arrived in Vancouver from Amsterdam, Dallas, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Seattle, all with infected travellers aboard. And numerous flights arrived from cities elsewhere in Canada. Bowing to pressure from the provinces, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a month-long ban on flights from India and Pakistan. But planes arriving from other heavily infected countries have not been halted. There are almost as many COVID-19 cases in Brazil, for example, as in India, yet flights are still coming to Toronto and Montreal from that country. Why is the prime minister dithering in this manner?
That was hardly surprising, since India is in the midst of a major outbreak, with up to 350,000 cases reported daily. India might also be the source of a new coronavirus variant. Over the same period, flights arrived in Vancouver from Amsterdam, Dallas, Mexico City, San Francisco, and Seattle, all with infected travellers aboard. And numerous flights arrived from cities elsewhere in Canada. Bowing to pressure from the provinces, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered a month-long ban on flights from India and Pakistan. But planes arriving from other heavily infected countries have not been halted. There are almost as many COVID-19 cases in Brazil, for example, as in India, yet flights are still coming to Toronto and Montreal from that country. Why is the prime minister dithering in this manner?