VANCOUVER – The British Columbia Attorney General announced that the government will release details of key travel this week as the province plans to put in place roadblocks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

VANCOUVER – The British Columbia Attorney General announced that the government will release details of key travel this week as the province plans to put in place roadblocks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

Mike Farnworth described the checkpoints as a “counterattack” of sorts, often used to find drunk drivers, but this time to prevent recreational travel outside of an individual’s health authority.

A “complete and comprehensive” list of key trips will be released this week, Farnworth said at a news conference on Wednesday.

His comments come after the National Police Federation issued a statement expressing “serious concerns” about police involvement in enforcing a COVID-19 ban on non-essential travel.

A statement by Brian Sauvé, president of the federation, said calling on police to enforce roadblocks puts even more pressure on limited resources and exposes officials to further risks and possible COVID-19 infections.

“Equally important is that we continue to improve and develop our relationships with vulnerable and racially motivated communities. The ambiguity and potentially negative impact of these orders can reverse that progress,” he said.

He also pointed to a similar attempt in Ontario that resulted in the province being forced to step down from enforcement action.

The officers were initially empowered to stop pedestrians or drivers to ask why they weren’t there or to get their home address.

But on Sunday, Doug Ford’s government restricted police to preventing people from attending an “organized public event or social gathering.”

The Ontario police had stated that they had no intention of exercising their new powers until the reversal.

Sauvé noted that the police were taking the “unusual step” of refusing the orders.

“They stated, without a doubt, that Ontario police officers had no appetite to respond to enhanced powers normally found in police states and that doing so would undermine a currently fragile public trust, particularly towards vulnerable and racially motivated communities,” he said.

British Columbia reported 862 new cases of COVID-19 and seven more deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,546 deaths since the pandemic began.

A joint statement from the health minister and the provincial health officer said more than 1.4 million doses of the vaccine had been administered.

People in BC who are now 30 years of age and older can register for the vaccine in the age-based immunization program.

This Canadian press report was first published on April 21, 2021.

Hina Alam, the Canadian press