Quebec Study Finds No Correlation Between ‘Punitive’ Pandemic Response and Case Reduction

Report says Quebec's fines for non-compliance with pandemic restrictions were based on 'political choice' and not the obligation to 'flatten the curve'

Police officers walk toward demonstrators protesting against curfew measures in front of Quebec Deputy Premier and Public Security Minister Genevieve Guilbault's office in Quebec City on April 13, 2021. Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

The Quebec government issued tens of thousands of fines to residents for not complying with its pandemic restrictions, but a new report finds that this “punitive” approach did not necessarily slow the spread of COVID-19.

“Québec chose to turn the public health crisis into a public safety crisis, managed with 46,563 police interventions,” concluded the report, conducted by four researchers from the University of Montreal’s Profiling Observatory (l’Observatoire des profilages) and released on March 10.