COVID-19 fines: Richmond 'sports centre' ordered to pay $2,300 for breaking health rules

Parties continue despite threat of fines Police are cracking down on businesses breaking pandemic rules, and Victoria police issued two penalties for private parties held inside an apartment.

Vancouver — A sports centre in Richmond received a hefty fine over the weekend for failing to follow public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Richmond Mounties say they received a complaint Saturday night that management at a sports centre on No. 6 Road wasn't enforcing physical distancing rules. They visited the sports centre at about 9:30 p.m. and found "a significant amount of people past the 50-person limit."

Mounties say they also discovered the business "was doing little to encourage social distancing, proper sanitization or contact tracing."

"Initially, investigators took an educational approach when dealing with the participants and spectators at the facility, but it was quite clear that the business needed further incentive to comply with the (provincial health officer's) guidelines," Cpl. Ian Henderson said in a news release issued Monday.

The operator was fined $2,300, as allowed under the new COVID-19 Related Measures Act. Those fines were announced Friday by Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth.

But Mounties say that business wasn't the only one breaking COVID-19 rules over the weekend. Officers also went to "a number of private gatherings," but say they chose to "educate people rather than issue violation tickets."

However, Mounties say fines can also be given to individuals if they don't follow the request of a business or event organizer to follow public health guidelines.

"It is disappointing that people still aren't getting the message. Whenever possible, we will take an educational approach to the (PHO's) orders, but for those businesses operating in blatant disregard for the PHO's orders, the RCMP will be considering violation tickets under the new CMRA," Henderson said.

Mounties in Surrey were also kept busy over the weekend, and gave fines to a restaurant, club and two event spaces for breaking COVID-19 rules. In those instances, each location had been subject to previous warnings from Surrey's compliance and enforcement team.