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A 20 second video shared with La Presse shows a row of about nine cars parked a few meters from each other across the street from her house. Around each vehicle, one to three people sing “Happy Birthday” to her while she stands at the entrance of her house.

“It was a surprise. They had signs and stayed in their car or stood right by their car doors. They honked as if they were at a wedding, went around the block and came back to my house to sing “Happy birthday” to me, Mélissa Leblanc explained to La Presse. I stood in my doorframe and filmed them. I don’t see what’s wrong.”

I know the police have their arms full, but they didn't listen to me at all and attacked me like I was a criminal

Roughly 10 minutes after the brief serenade, Montreal police came knocking at her door to tell her that she should expect a $1,546 fine by mail in the next few days. The reason: troubling the peace and disregarding social distancing.

She says they also threatened her with six months to one year of prison if they had to intervene at her home again.

“I told them that everyone had stayed away from each other, but they didn’t want to watch my videos or even listen to me,” the Montrealer lamented, as quoted by La Presse.

Both Montreal’s municipal administration as well and the provincial government have decided to crack the whip on residents disregarding public health orders aimed at combatting the spread of COVID-19.

Canada’s second biggest city has become the country’s epicentre of the pandemic, with roughly one quarter of all confirmed COVID-19 cases.

“Today, I sent a message to police officers for the Sûreté du Québec and municipal police services to be less tolerant. I don’t think we can accept that a vast majority of people are making an effort to fight the virus, and those efforts are annihilated by a few,” François Legault said last Thursday.