If you think it might be safe to sneak out after 8:00 PM, think again.
Across Quebec, police handed out more than 1,400 curfew-related tickets last week, including 353 in Montreal.
Fines can range from $1,000 to $6,000, plus administrative fees so make sure you are not travelling outside your home between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. without a good reason.
Here are the rules according to the Quebec government:
As of Saturday, January 9, 2021, a curfew will be in effect. Between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. Quebecers must not leave their homes except in cases that justify travel.
Allowed exceptions:
- a person whose presence is required at the person’s place of work or who is transporting goods needed for the ongoing activities of the person’s enterprise;
- a person who is going to a pharmacy to obtain medication or pharmaceutical, hygienic or sanitary products;
- a person who must go to or return from a hospital, a clinic, or a dentist’s or optometrist’s office;
- a person who must visit a sick or injured parent;
- a student who must participate in a face-to-face evening class or go to a laboratory in a recognized school;
- a parent who must accompany his or her children to the home of the other parent who has custody of them;
- a person who is going to take an inter-regional or inter-provincial bus, a train or a plane for final travel to the person’s destination;
- a person who must go out so that his dog can do its business, within a radius of no more than one kilometre from the person’s place of residence or temporary residence;
- a person who must travel in order to comply with a court judgment, to respond to a summons to appear before a court, or to exercise custody or access rights as a parent;
- a person who must accompany to a medical appointment another person who is unable to drive;
- a parent who must accompany a sick child to the hospital;
- a person travelling to give blood under the supervision of Héma-Québec;
- a parent who must accompany an adolescent to his work.
