Over 14,000 Montrealers Called The SPVM To Snitch On People Gathering Since April

Most complaints happened on the weekend, go figure.
Staff Writer

Montrealers certainly weren't shy about snitching on neighbours who were having gatherings this year. According to data shared with Narcity Québec, the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM) received over 14,000 complaints in seven months. 

The data was collected between April 1 and November 1. It includes 911 calls as well as online complaints about indoor and outdoor gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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14,198 Complaints to the SPVM between April and November 2020

The SPVM noted that "both founded and unfounded complaints are counted" in these numbers. 

According to Narcity Québec, most complaints between April 1 and June 7 were lodged on the weekends. 

While it seems that many Montrealers decided to flout the rules despite the government's warning to avoid public gatherings, only a total of 3,182 "statements of offence" and "general offence reports" were actually issued. 

Between March 12 and November 1, 2,014 "statements of offence" and 1,168 "general offence reports" were issued in Montreal.

The SPVM did not provide figures on the cost of these infractions, but anyone who contravenes public gathering rules can be fined between $1,000 and $6,000, according to the Public Health Act

This data was collected from the SPVM by Narcity Québec following an access-to-information request. 

  • Teddy Elliot
  • Teddy Elliot was a Staff Writer for MTL Blog. He was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and has a B.A. in Literature. Teddy has been a journalist for three years and was once an English teacher. His creative work has appeared in The Blasted Tree and Parenthetical Magazine. When he's not chasing scoops, Teddy can be found cheering on Aston Villa and listening to 80s power ballads. He was shortlisted for a Digital Publishing Award in 2021.

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