Even without official permission, most essential workers exempted from the curfew felt rather comfortable walking the streets after 8 p.m.
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“I don’t really have permission. I was told that with our CIUSSS card we were going to be correct. I did print my schedule anyway for further proof. It seems to be a tacit agreement between the CIUSSS and the Quebec Police Service, ”said Maxime, a specialist educator at the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, who finished his shift at 11 p.m. on Saturday evening.
The government has provided a list of situations in which it is permitted to waive the curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.
The exceptions include people who must report to their workplaces.
Most of the workers interviewed by The newspaper Saturday night had official clearance and were ready to be intercepted by the police.
“The Association des restaurateurs du Québec provided us with a clear certificate that we could print for our delivery people. Two out of three delivery people were checked, but they had no problem, “said Daniel Paulin, owner of Resto La Muse in Drummondville.
Tristan Pérez, bike delivery man for Pizzeria NO.900 on Laurier Street in Montreal, said he was “privileged to be able to be in the streets after 8 p.m.”
Some more nervous
Serge Sigouin was “a little nervous” at the idea of picking up his 18-year-old daughter who works as a receptionist in a retirement home until 9 p.m., even though the government allows a parent to drive their teenager to their home. job.
If she had official permission to travel after curfew, he didn’t.
“When I got to RPA, I took a breath because afterwards she had her real document,” admitted the father, who had shaved and even put on a shirt “to put the odds in his favor.”
Drivers from Uber and Uber Eats also said they were “nervous” to travel on the roads because the company did not issue them with travel certificates “since they are not officially employees.”
“We are worried that we still don’t know what to show the police if we are arrested. But when I see companies like Doordash or SkiptheDishes providing certificates to their drivers, it frustrates me a bit, ”said Angela Baron, driver for Uber, in Montreal.
– With Nora T. Lamontagne and Erika Aubin