People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier speaks to a crowd in Regina's Victoria Park on May 8, 2021. (Dominick Lucyk/980 CJME file photo)

By Lisa Schick/650 CKOM News

Dozens of COVID tickets still waiting for court in Saskatchewan

Jul 16, 2021 | 5:19 PM

Less than half of the tickets relating to violations of Saskatchewan’s public health orders under the COVID-19 pandemic have been resolved.

According to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Justice, 265 charges were laid under The Public Health Act to the end of June. That’s 110 more than were counted to the end of April.

Of those, 175 still need a court date or a resolution. Forty-eight of the charges have ended in convictions, with nine fines fully collected and two partially; the collected fines total $24,082.

Two months ago, there had been 17 convictions with five fines fully paid and one partially, for a total of $15,086 collected.

The other 42 charges were either withdrawn or nullified, or jurisdiction was lost — 27 more than at the end of April.

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The government said jurisdiction being lost is when “specific circumstances outside of the accused’s control mean that a case cannot proceed as scheduled.” It did say that when a case can’t proceed, then most times jurisdiction isn’t lost.

Though the state of emergency is over, it appears these tickets will still be pursued.

The ministry said that criminal, regulatory and health violation tickets all continue to proceed to court. If there is a decision that needs to be made about whether a case proceeds, it will be made by the agency responsible for prosecuting.

The ministry explained the Crown prosecutor will proceed when there’s “a reasonable likelihood of conviction and it’s in the public interest to proceed.”

For those who choose not to pay, the government has a series of measures in its back pocket, including bringing in the Canada Revenue Agency, garnishing wages, seizing personal property, requesting the person’s drivers’ licence be suspended, or even jail time in severe cases.

— With files from 650 CKOM’s Lara Fominoff