Crown attorneys have stayed proceedings against an Ontario woman who was ticketed and fined $6,255 for not going to a quarantine hotel upon arriving in Canada. .“The right to be tried for a charge within a reasonable time is a fundamental principle of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and a trial 25 months after the date of a charge would not have been reasonable,” said Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Charlene Le Beau in a Monday press release. .The JCCF said the Ontario woman was returning to Canada after a visit to New York in 2021. It added she suffers from chronic pain syndrome, which some times requires the assistance of a wheelchair and of family and friends for her personal care. .Therefore, the woman was unable to quarantine in any of the quarantine hotels designated by the Canadian government. Quarantine regulations prohibited Canadians from returning to their homes upon coming back to Canada and required them to pay out of pocket for a three-day hotel stay. .She had made alternative arrangements to quarantine for 14 days in a separate area of her home, with the assistance of her mother. Her traveller intake form at the Canadian border indicated she had established a suitable alternative quarantine plan. .Le Beau argued her client should have qualified for a medical exemption under the order in council in effect at the time and because she had established a suitable quarantine plan, the ticket should be dropped. She pointed out 25 months had elapsed between the time the ticket had been issued and the trial date, which made this an unreasonable delay pursuant to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. .“We are happy that justice has been achieved in this particular case, even if it took too long,” said JCCF President John Carpay. .“However, this victory does not undo the damage which the federal government inflicted on thousands of Canadians through its dangerous and utterly unscientific policy of locking Canadians up in prison hotels, thereby causing more contact and more interactions with more people.” .Charges against an Ontario couple who declined to stay in a quarantine hotel were stayed by the Crown attorneys on September 8. .READ MORE: Charges against Ontario couple who refused to quarantine withdrawn.“This is a bittersweet result for the Davies,” said JCCF-funded lawyer Christopher Fleury. .“It is an excellent outcome for them personally.”
