Thread by @BrianDijkema

🧵Nicole & I had a bylaw officer come to our door today to provide us with an official warning. The reason? She (who btw was a wonderful, caring, gentle, & thoughtful officer who was doing her job, & I will tolerate no slurs against her or her colleagues) received a call 1/

that kids in our #HamOnt neighbourhood were congregating unsafely. Ours and our neighbour's house were id'd as the houses of concern. How were our children congregating unsafely you ask? Were they gathering indoors to play video games, or drink, or just hang out? Nope. They 2/

were congregating unsafely b/c they were playing street hockey. Street hockey. Our neighbours have 5 kids. We have 4. These kids are not allowed to be at school, and have been working diligently on school work all day, indoors. They are not allowed to participate in 3/

any of their usual activities. These kids -- like most Ontarian kids -- have been deprived of a great deal this past year and have borne it like champs. One of the things that has allowed them to bear it so well was the fact that we, as parents, made the decision early on...4/

to not totally starve them of socializing, nor activity. We decided that outdoor play with a small number of local families who share the same age range of kids, was a way for us to provide them with friendship and activity that was extremely low risk. 5/

We did so because we know that depriving children of socialization and activity has a detrimental effect on their well-being, and, given the extremely miniscule risks of transmission among healthy kids, and the even lower risks of outdoor transmission, their well-being far 6/

outweighed any possible (infinitesimal?) risk. Note that, if kids were symptomatic, they stayed in until they received a -ve test (both families got tested multiple times for runny noses etc, but all tests came back -ve). These are healthy, non-symptomatic, children, who 7/

are playing outdoors -- most of the time fairly distant (let the puck do the work, amirite?). IOW, they pose almost 0 risk to anyone. They likely have a greater risk of breaking an arm (let's not talk about that) or getting an infection from the road rash received from 8/

laying out to stop a puck (a green biscuit, highly recommended, btw. greenbiscuit.com). The evidence supports our decision. The risk of transmission outdoors is EXTREMELY low. globalnews.ca/news/7769445/c… 9/

The amount of kid-kid transmission in Ontario is also EXTREMELY low. And when it comes to non-symptomatic, healthy, children, it's lower, and when you combine all this (outdoors, kids, no symptoms, perfect health) the risk approaches the infinitesimally low. 10/

Yet, we have a public policy environment in #onpoli and enforced by #HamOnt in which officers are being sent to warn of potential fines ($750+/-) for kids doing things that are GOOD FOR THEM and which are an almost 0 public health risk. 11/

Now, I'm a rule of law guy. We've followed the rules to almost a T since this damned plague began, & have advocated for the same in all the institutions we're a part of. But this is totally unacceptable. It's simple: kids should not be threatened with fines for playing outdoors!

What's worse, these types of foolish laws (@fordnation @HamiltonsMayor) and our willing enforcement thereof, are like acid on neighbourhoods and local trust. We are in a situation where neighbours are calling officers of the state on their neighbours for normal behaviour. 13/

And officers are being asked to enforce laws (@fordnation @HamiltonsMayor @TheSpec ) that they themselves know are foolish and wish they didn't have to enforce! This undermines trust in the very institutions of law and order that are critical to public life. It's corrosive! 14/

It also creates a sense in children that normal behaviour is aberrant, and is likely to lead to mistrust of authority. And it forces parents to decide b/w their kids' health or disobedience to the civil authorities. None of this is good. None of this is necessary. 15/

What do Nicole and I do? Prevent our kids playing street hockey? Allow our kids to break the law (and thus undermine their trust in the authorities)? How do we deal with our neighbours who feel the need to call officers rather than speak with us? 16/

We're not sure what we're going to do at this point. We will be printing flyers to hand to our neighbours (most of whom we've spoken to and all of which are 100% okay with road hockey) to explain why our kids play outside, and to share some of the scientific evidence showing 17/

how little risk there is on the #COVID19Ontario front. But what do we do about letting them play? The best thing would be for @fordnation to repeal the law that is presenting us with this choice, or for @HamiltonsMayor to have bylaw not enforce it. @TheSpec 18/

On that one, @HamiltonsMayor, there's precedent. Have #HamOnt council instruct our bylaw officers not to enforce the ignorant laws that restrict healthy children from playing outdoors. Just don't enforce it. It will be better for the city's kids. @TheSpec In the meantime 19/

Nicole & I will be discussing with each other & w the kids about what to do next. The best, and easiest thing, however, is to just stop passing laws which are not effective, not backed by evidence, & which are detrimental to children's heath. Or stop enforcing them. 20/ #HamOnt

We're okay with broken pucks, we're not okay with broken spirits. #HamOnt 21/

And one last thing... I say this, knowing that it might lose you, @fordnation (given your #LeafsForever commitments), but I'll say it anyway because disagreements over hockey > disagreements over policy: #GoHabsGo -end