Quebec mulls ban on anti-vax protests

MONTREAL • Premier François Legault said Tuesday his government is looking at what it can do to stop people from protesting COVID-19 health orders outside the province’s schools and hospitals.

Legault said his government will “use whatever is necessary” to prevent people from disrupting students attending school or healthcare workers entering hospitals.

“We’re not ruling out anything; indeed, it could be a special law,” Legault told reporters in Quebec City, after protesters had gathered earlier in the day outside a high school in a northern Montreal neighbourhood.

“We’re looking at what we can do, but it’s unacceptable to see anti-vaccine protests outside our schools and hospitals.”

Protesters have gathered outside schools in recent days to denounce health orders such as the COVID-19 vaccine passport. Last week, demonstrators rallied at Mcgill University Hospital Centre’s Glen site, some of them carrying signs questioning the use of COVID-19 vaccines. Others bore signs opposing rules imposed on health-care workers.

Similar protests have occurred in other parts of Canada.

When asked by a reporter how a law would affect the right to protest outside schools and hospitals for NON-COVID-19 reasons, Legault said the question is being studied.

“We’re looking at what it means, a protest outside a school or a hospital, and when we’re ready with something, we will come see you, and it will be very soon,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, Liberal education critic Marwah Rizqy posted to Twitter a bill she had drafted that would prevent protests that are “anti-vaccine and anti-health order” within 50 metres of an elementary or high school. She said she had sent the bill to the justice minister and was “ready to sit all night to adopt this law that protects students.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Quebec reported a drop in new COVID-19 cases and in the number of people in hospital with the disease. But health officials also reported nine more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, for a total of 11,335.

An outbreak declared Sept. 10 at a seniors residence in Cartierville, a borough in north-end Montreal, has been tied to at least 34 infections. Marie-hélène Giguère, a spokesperson for the local public health authority, said Tuesday that six residents of Manoir Gouin have been hospitalized and two have died. Manoir Gouin has 107 residents, and the vast majority of them are adequately vaccinated.

“We are supporting them since the beginning of the outbreak,” Giguère said. “The residents are staying in their apartments, the common areas have been closed, masks are mandatory indoors, we will do a third screening either today or tomorrow.”