Coronavirus: Montreal boroughs, cities, launch new social distancing measures

On Saturday morning, a new brigade hit the parks of LaSalle.

Their goal is to make sure people are respecting social distancing.

“It’s great, they’re enjoying themselves, but they quickly forget about safety rules and social distancing rules,” said Pierre Dupuis, the borough’s assistant general manager.

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LaSalle is a borough that has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus crisis.

As of Friday evening, it recorded 985 cases of COVID-19 and 133 deaths.

Officials say, with summer around the corner, it wants the brigades to act as a reminder to people that we are still living through a pandemic.

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“We have Montrealers coming from all over the island to enjoy the Saint Lawrence river — we have kilometres of parks — so we figured we had to do something more,” said Dupuis.

The situation is similar in Pointe-Claire.

The village is a popular attraction for both West Islanders and Montrealers alike.

“It’s very, very hard to manage that number of people under these conditions,” said Pointe-Claire Mayor John Belvedere.

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In an effort to enforce social distancing, municipal patrols are often roaming parks and scanning the riverbanks.

The city has also implemented new measures in an effort to make the village more spacious.

“We’ve removed benches on sidewalks, we’ve removed tables off of terraces on sidewalks,” said Belvedere. “We’re not going to put flowerpots back along sidewalks — we’re trying to keep the sidewalks open as much as possible.”