THUNDER BAY – Canada’s health minister says she’s glad there will be potential legal consequences after police broke up a house party in Brampton, Ont. with up to 200 people in attendance.
According to Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, bylaw officers have laid charges following the party on Saturday night, which involved valet parking and barriers erected on fences surrounding the home to keep neighbours from seeing onto the property.
Patty Hajdu said it’s one thing to have a few friends over for a backyard barbecue. A party this size was completely irresponsible.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s actually really selfish, to me. The perspective of whoever was having that party was that they were, for some reason, immune – physically speaking and possibly psychologically speaking – from the virus,” Hajdu said on Monday morning at a news conference outside the Thunder Bay District Health Unit.
“But they’re putting all of those people’s lives at risk and the greater community’s lives at risk.”
Hajdu, who represents Thunder Bay-Superior North for the governing Liberals, said the public has to continue to take COVID-19 seriously.
Even if numbers are low in a community, it can change rapidly.
A party like one broken up by police in Brampton on Saturday night can be an incubation factory, especially as the economy starts to open up and more people start moving into and out of communities or head back to the workplace.
It’s a very sneaky virus, Hajdu reminded.
“It remains very mild in some people, so it’s very hard to understand, at the beginning of the virus in particular, whether or not you’re very ill. So to have a big gathering of 200 people, where someone might decide, ‘You know, I have a little bit of a scratchy throat or this little irritating cough, but it doesn’t seem like coronavirus,’ that’s a thing someone might think and continue to go to large party like that,” Hajdu said.
Think before sending out those party invitations, she added.
“I would ask them to think again. It’s really important that we follow the local public health guidelines. Here in Thunder Bay, we have guidelines on small gatherings for a reason, so that we can actually ensure that we reduce the risk of that spread and support public health,” Hajdu said, adding the smaller the gathering, the easier it is to do contact tracing if someone does test positive.”
Brown said the homeowners could face a hefty fine, if convicted.
“The matter will be going to court,” he tweeted. “Maximum penalty is $100,000. Reckless behaviour is expensive.”
