Outaouais politician offered drivers letters to help at police checkpoints
Jane Toller says she'll stop writing emails now that travel ban is set to end
A western Quebec politician says she'll stop writing letters for residents and cottagers concerned about police checkpoints now that Quebec has released its plan to end a provincial travel ban.
Jane Toller, warden for the regional municipality of Pontiac, says she's written about 20 emails for people who need to travel within the municipality that they can present to police should they be stopped at checkpoints.
For now, drivers can be fined or forced to turn around if they do not have a valid reason to travel to western Quebec.
"People were in really difficult positions, and they didn't want to break the rules," Toller told CBC News Wednesday. "Anyone who has asked, I have obliged and written an email for them."
Toller said most of her letters were for people delivering medicine or food to elderly relatives either in other parts of Quebec or in Ontario. She also wrote letters for cottagers who live elsewhere and needed to inspect their second homes in the Pontiac.
"They just want to see how their cottage or property has weathered through the winter. Some have left heat on [or] doors unlocked," she said.
Police have been stopping drivers crossing into Quebec and along roadways within the province, including in the Pontiac, since April 1.
"The police tell me that they have heard all kinds of stories from people," Toller said. "But I think, when they see something written and signed by myself, they know that I have intervened on their behalf — and that I feel it's a credible reason for them to be allowed access."
A spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec provincial police force in Gatineau said no letter would help people pass through a checkpoint, and that each person's individual travel needs are assessed by officers on a case-by-case basis.
Only essential trips, like travel to work, are currently allowed in Quebec. The province announced Wednesday that police would stop enforcing travel restrictions next month, with the ban being lifted in the Outaouais — although not in Gatineau — on May 11.
Given that new directive, Toller said Wednesday she would stop writing letters for cottagers, and instead recommend people wait until May 11 to visit their second homes.
Governments discourage non-essential travel
Despite the travel ban lifting, Quebec's Deputy Premier and Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault asked for people to remain disciplined and only travel if it's necessary.
Vera Etches, Ottawa's medical officer of health, said Ontario will be releasing more guidance on cottage travel soon, but in the meantime, she urged people to be reasonable.
"The main principle is, the more you move outside your household and come into contact with others, the more you increase your risk of encountering the virus," she said Wednesday.
When asked about Quebec's restrictions lifting, Premier Doug Ford urged Quebec residents not to cross the provincial border during the pandemic.
Previously, both mayors of Ottawa and Gatineau urged residents to avoid crossing the provincial borders unless it was for essential travel.
To date, Toller said, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in her municipality, although there are cases in the town of Pontiac, Que., located nearby in a different regional municipality.
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