Officials with a local First Nation community have enacted a pandemic safety bylaw to combat COVID-19.
The bylaw allows band councillors with the Paqtnkek Mi’kmaw Nation to order measures, if required; they include mandatory curfews, checkpoints, and even a full lockdown of the community.
Paul Prosper, the chief of Paqtnkek, says it also gives them the power to enforce it with fines as high as $1,000 and/or 30 days in jail.
Prosper tells The Hawk they need the option to enforce these measures to protect their residents.
“We’re a small community, but we’re a tight community, and we have to be conscious of some of the realities within communities,” he says. “Overcrowded conditions within a lot of our homes, multigenerational families living under the same roof- we need to respond in a timely manner.”
Prosper says those households often include high-risk, vulnerable seniors, and that higher risk makes it imperative to control the flow of people in their community.
He says they’ve been handling issues case-by-case so far, but they’ll use the bylaw if necessary.
