COVID-19 tickets | 65 million in fines

Quebec authorities have issued a total of more than 43,000 tickets during the pandemic for health rule violations, totaling $65 million in fines. Some recalcitrants, like François Amalega-Bitondo, even collected them.

$98,000 in tickets

Francois Amalega-Bitondo, a former Brébeuf math teacher turned anti-vaccine activist, has reaped more than $98,000 in fines to date. “I will not pay them,” he swears. The 44-year-old man, who defends himself without a lawyer, absolutely wants justice to rule on the constitutionality of the tickets given to him. “I made several attempts to make a constitutional argument in court, but each time the judges rejected it on formalities,” he complains.

703 hours of compensatory work offered

François Amalega-Bitondo currently has no salary and no seizable financial or real estate assets. Faced with his categorical refusal to pay his tickets, the Bureau des infractions et amendes recently made him an offer: to do 703 hours of compensatory work, to cover 25 tickets totaling $39,838 in fines. “I didn’t even respond to their offer. To answer them would be to accept that the government was right,” says Mr. Amalega-Bitondo.

5615 enforcement actions

When a person receives a ticket, they have 30 days to pay it or file a dispute of the charge (plead not guilty). If she fails to do so, she is condemned by default by the court. From then on, the Bureau des infractions et amendes undertakes enforcement measures. To date, 5,615 files, totaling 8.8 million in fines, have been subject to such enforcement measures. These enforcement actions resulted in the recovery of 2.6 million.

2785 payment arrangements

Of these 5,615 files, 2,785 were the subject of a payment agreement. The fine collector was thus able to recover $800,000, out of a total of $4.4 million.

339 seizures

If no payment agreement is made, the collector of fines can then undertake enforcement measures: garnishment of wages, seizure of bank accounts or movable and immovable assets. To date, 339 files have been subject to seizures, and 644 have been subject to other enforcement measures, for a value of 2.7 million. In particular, the Ministry of Justice has placed legal mortgages on the homes of certain recalcitrant offenders.

Jail as a last resort

If a person refuses to make an agreement and has no seizable assets, as is the case for Mr. Amalega-Bitondo, the collector of fines can “as a very last resort” ask the court to impose a penalty of ‘imprisonment. “I have been in prison several times. I am ready to do it again, assures Mr. Amalega-Bitondo. If 10,000 people were ready to go to prison for health measures, I think things would change. »