N.B. RCMP to maintain most COVID-19 measures despite lifting of mandatory order
The lifting of the mandatory order in New Brunswick won’t change much for the province’s RCMP.
Assistant Commissioner Larry Tremblay said the force will remain cautious for the next month or two.
“We encourage all the members who serve the public to continue wearing masks,” he said. “The cleaning measures will not change. Inside any of our offices, members will be required, or employees will be required to practice social distancing and keep their masks until we know that this is, in fact, resolved.”
On Saturday at midnight, the mandatory order in place during the last 499 days won’t be renewed. It means all of the COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted in New Brunswick, including mandatory masks and border checks.
Tremblay says the organization has been resilient during that time and it showed in the number of COVID-19 cases that affected the force.
Of the 1,300 employees within the N.B. RCMP, five came down with the virus.
However, although the province is in good shape, he’s choosing not to take any chances.
“You’ve got to look at the international situation, even what’s going on in the States right now,” he said. “We may be required to re-engage should the situation change. I think it’s expected and prudent for us to maintain our operational posture for the short-term.”
While COVID-19 changed a lot, Tremblay says his priority was the same: to ensure members who went to work, came home from work safe and healthy.
“We had one occasion in Codiac where one member, we learned after the fact, may have been in contact with a COVID-positive person. If you find out 12 hours later, that’s a whole shift,” he said. “What happened…is we isolated 30 people right away until they had a chance to have their two negative tests. Because one person infected over a week period, given the territory we had, could impact the whole police force.”
The RCMP in N.B. look after 97 per cent of its territory, and 70 per cent of its population.
Tremblay says there’s a lack of resources, both human and financial, and while he couldn’t provide an exact figure on how much the pandemic cost the force – overtime was a factor.
But along with the policies and procedures that came with the pandemic – regular policing continued on. Tremblay said the force also supported its counterparts in N.S. after the mass shooting.
He suspects there may be some celebrations once the order is lifted, but as for policing, Tremblay says he won’t be approaching this weekend any different than the last.
“I don’t see that, all of a sudden, good common sense is going to go away just because we’re past the mandatory order,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Leafs star Auston Matthews finishes season with 69 goals
Auston Matthews won't be joining the NHL's 70-goal club this season.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Doug Ford calls on Ontario Speaker to reverse Queen's Park keffiyeh ban
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on Speaker Ted Arnott to reverse a ban on keffiyehs at Queen's Park, describing the move as “needlessly” divisive.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.