"It's none of his business what's in the bag."
^^^^^^
“Sarah Vresk was heading to work at around 4 a.m. Tuesday when she was stopped near her home by Montreal police and asked to prove she had the right to be on the road during curfew.

"I got my letter out of my glove compartment and he asked for my ID, I gave him that",
said Vresk.
"He then asked me what was in my bag."

“Vresk demanded to know why that mattered, and why she wasn't free to go after showing a letter from her employer stating she works for a snow-removal contractor and needs to be on the job during curfew.

“The officer questioned the validity of that letter, saying it's just a piece of paper, and threatened to give her a ticket anyway, Vresk said. The officer accused her of delaying detainment by not co-operating and showing the bag's contents.

“Vresk finally gave into the officer's demands, allowing him to inspect her lunch bag.

“The officer then returned to his cruiser to check her credentials, while his partner took over questioning. Finally, Vresk was let go without a ticket.

“A police intervention should end as soon as a citizen shows proof that they're allowed to be out during curfew hours, said Jeffrey Boro, a criminal defence lawyer in Montreal.

"It's none of his business what's in the bag",
said Boro.
"He has no reasonable or probable grounds to search. He hasn't got the power to do that and the woman has certain constitutional rights to be free of an abusive search."

“Boro said Vresk's experience is a typical example of an officer abusing their authority by threatening further consequences for not complying with the search request.

"This type of behaviour is unacceptable",
he said.
"The police are there to serve us. We're not there to serve them."

‘SPVM says it's up to officer's discretion’
Police officers are expected to proceed with "good judgment", according to a statement from the Montreal police.

"Before imposing a sanction on an offender, they will carry out the necessary research and analyze each situation according to its context and its particularities",
the statement says.

“The SPVM says it is up to citizens to prove they're allowed to be out after curfew.

"They must also answer the police officers' questions satisfactorily and have the documents required to confirm their situation",
says the statement.

“When Quebec Public Security Minister Geneviève Guilbault outlined the curfew rules last week, she said enforcement will rely on the "judgment and discernment" of police officers who are used to making difficult calls in the application of laws and rules.

“In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the ministry said people are expected to prove they're allowed to be out after curfew, but an officer may reject the explanation and issue a ticket regardless.

“But handing this amount of discretionary power to police is worrisome to some legal experts and civil rights activists...

"When you fine people for doing things that pose no danger to public health, people really start to question why the rules are in place and whether they make any sense",
Cara Zwibel, a lawyer with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), said.
"It erodes trust and confidence in the government."

--‘Montreal woman says officer insisted on searching her lunch bag during curfew stop’,
Isaac Olson, CBC News, Jan 13, 2021
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada..../montreal/montreal-p

They thought that masks worked in 1918, and were forcing people, as well {See top right headline}:
IMAGE: The Seattle Star., October 30, 1918, Page 7

"Forcing people to wear masks helped save lives during the 1918 influenza pandemic".

“Some mask advocates on social media sites like Facebook dogmatically make that claim. The scientific literature disagrees.

“A May 12, 2020 article published in the peer review journal Health Affairs emphatically states:
“Experts reviewing the evidence from 1918 concluded that flu masks failed to control infection.”

“The article goes on to cite a 1919 study by Wilfred H. Kellogg for the California State Board of Health:
“…mask ordinances applied forcibly to entire communities did not decrease cases and deaths, as confirmed by comparisons of cities with widely divergent policies on masking.”

“Kellogg concluded:
“The case against the mask as a measure of compulsory application for the control of epidemics appears to be complete.”
https://babel.hathitrust.org/c....gi/pt?id=uc1.3137800