Quebec government faces backlash for 2nd curfew

Quebec is one of the few jurisdictions in the world to impose a curfew in the pandemic — let alone do it twice. 

Thanks to a belief in a strong provincial state, the first curfew was generally accepted by the population, according to McGill University professor Daniel Béland. 

But since Premier François Legault announced Thursday that Quebecers would once again be prevented from leaving their homes between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting Dec. 31, he appears to be receiving more criticism this time around. 

The strict public health measure was admonished by 13 academics and public health experts in an open letter published on the website Pivot the same day Legault made the announcement. Members of all three opposition parties in Quebec have also denounced the curfew since then.

The open letter noted that most outbreaks throughout the pandemic in the province have taken place in schools, daycares and workplaces. 

"At best, the curfew is a spectacle," the letter said. "At worst, it is a punishment on individuals to mask the negligence and systemic inaction in managing the pandemic."

One of the letter's signatories, Jean-Sébastien Fallu, a Université de Montréal professor, said the curfew may do more harm than good, especially for marginalized populations.

"It has an impact, even at 10 p.m., for many people: sex workers, people on the street, people living with violence at home," Fallu said.

Béland, who was not one of the people who signed the letter, said the criticism has come from beyond experts and general opponents of public health measures.

"People, who may have even supported the first curfew or were a bit neutral about it, now, they're coming out swinging, saying, 'Well, you never showed us the evidence that the first curfew made a positive difference in the first place,'" Béland said. 

Legault first imposed a curfew Jan. 9, 2021, when hospitalizations in the province were last above 1,000, and it lasted until May 28, 2021, "way longer than expected," Béland said. The province currently has 1,396 people in hospital with COVID.

When reporters asked Legault on Thursday what evidence there was to justify imposing a curfew a second time, he replied that it was "du gros bon sens," or common sense, since limiting people's movements after dark discourages indoor gatherings. 

Quebec's Health Ministry sent journalists a news release that evening claiming the decision to reinstate the curfew was backed by science. It shared three preliminary studies examining the effects of curfews in France, Jordan and Quebec. 

The study looking into the effects of the curfew in Quebec was conducted by a Public Health Ontario team and compared the impact of lockdown restrictions in Quebec and Ontario, which did not impose a nighttime curfew, on the amount mobility happening in both places.