(LifeSiteNews) — A Quebec constable who said he would not ticket people under the province’s COVID curfew has been banned from policing for a year.
According to information obtained February 5 by Blacklock’s Reporter, the Quebec Police Ethics Tribunal has banned Constable Maxime Ouimet from working as a peace officer for a year after he posted on Facebook that he would not enforce the province’s controversial curfew during COVID.
“Whether there were real consequences or not resulting from the Facebook posts, the fact remains it encouraged people to distrust the government and could even have led to civil disobedience,” wrote adjudicator Isabelle Coté.
“The Constable did not act on a whim. He had time to think about it and posted his message more than once,” she noted.
Ouimet had posted several comments “expressing his disagreement with the health measures put in place by the government in order to counter the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.” He further questioned lockdowns and COVID mandates, including the Quebec curfew, which he promised he would not enforce.
At the time, Quebec has some of the strictest COVID regulations in the country and even imposed a curfew on their citizens between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. If caught violating curfew, they were subject to fines between $1,000 and $6,000.
“Constable Ouimet stated he had been a police officer for 12 years and would refuse to ticket or execute any warrant against citizens who contravened health regulations,” wrote Coté. “According to Ouimet this went against his personal values and that he wanted to help and support these people, not ‘destroy’ them.”
“He did not intend to perform his duties since he disagreed with government health mandates,” ruled the Tribunal. “He said he would not enforce the law though it was his duty.”
Shortly after his social media posts in 2020, Ouimet chose to end his 12 year career on the police force.
“I have been a police officer for 12 years to help, serve and protect the people. I will no longer be a tool of the government to satisfy and establish its dictator,” he wrote on social media at the time.
Later, Ouimet joined Police On Guard for Thee, a “group of active & retired Police Officers, Military, CBSA, Correctional Services & Fire Fighters, addressing the unconstitutional Covid mandates.”
“I completed 11 years in the Laval Police Service in Québec,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “In 2020, during this crisis, I started noticing that the reality on the ground did not match what I was seeing on TV.”
“I did not agree with the disrespect of our Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he continued. “I had to resign so as not to be complicit in violating my oath and in order to protect the people of Québec. Since October 2020, I have rallied with the people and am fighting alongside to preserve my oath and their freedoms.”