Stand4THEE Friday Night Zoom Feb 23rd - Quarantine Act Overreach

ArriveSCAM is hot in the press, the Emergencies Act declared unlawful… but what about the Orders in Council issued under the Quarantine Act? Who has the authority with regards to our medical privacy and informed consent in Canada?

As you may now, we always go back to the Constitution Act 1867-1982 as this is the framework for Canada law making and executive authority between the feds and the provinces – fun fact, the municipalities do not exist in the Constitution Act, but that’s another story.

After digging into legislation, we’ve uncovered that the federal Minister of Health has no jurisdiction as per the Department of Health Act, the act that gives life to the MOH and sets out their authority, to override provincial health authority. Provincial laws set out the right to informed consent and medical privacy. This is not Federal jurisdiction as health care functions on a provincial level.

And… what we can’t find, is where the PHAC screening officers get their authority to issue a ticket. As per the QA, screening officers are designated by the MOH, however, they are not considered Peace Officers as per the Criminal Code as Quarantine Officers are. If you look at the Contraventions Act the section to issue tickets is greyed out, which means it has not yet come into force. Furthermore, under the Provincial Offences Act of Ontario, only a Provincial Offences Officer can issue tickets and a screening officer is not listed in the definition of Provincial Offences Officer.

We’ll dig into the nitty gritty and discuss next steps to seek a remedy and accountability.

Links to the legislation that we reviewed:
1. Quarantine Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/q-1.1/FullText.html

2. Contraventions Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/c-38.7/FullText.html

3. Department of Health Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/h-3.2/FullText.html

4. Public Health Agency Act, https://lois-laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-29.5/FullText.html#h-401238

5. Provincial Offences Act Ontario, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/90p33#BK4

6. Ontario Court of Justice, https://lois-laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/P-29.5/FullText.html#h-401238

7. Health Care Consent Act, 1996, S.O. 1996, c. 2, Sched. A, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/96h02#BK2

8. Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004, S.O. 2004, c. 3, Sched. A, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/04p03#BK30

9. Statutory Instruments Act, https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/s-22/FullText.html

10. Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 18, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/91r18#BK12

11. Medicine Act, 1991, S.O. 1991, c. 30, https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/91m30

12. Order in Council Gazette, https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2020/2020-04-14-x1/html/sor-dors86-eng.html

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