The issue: Covid compliance task force
We say: no need for big stick
The NWT Compliance and Enforcement Taskforce.
The title sounds awfully serious, like drug busts should be involved.
Or maybe, for some, the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report comes to mind.
In this case, the task force was introduced on April 8 as a means to ensure residents of the territory are following the rules intended to stem Covid-19.
In fairness, a pandemic isn't something to be trifled with. 
Chief public health officer Kami Kandola is calling the shots. The task force – led by Conrad Baetz, the assistant deputy minister of Lands, and comprising 30 public health officers – provides the muscle to give Kandola's orders greater weight.
Not observing social distancing? Hosting gatherings or parties? Failing to self-isolate after travelling outside the NWT?
You could be confronted with a fine of up to $10,000 for a first offence.
The government has set up a toll-free phone line and an email address whereby residents can lodge complaints when they suspect wrongdoing.
This isn't unique to the NWT. In Nunavut, the territorial government has introduced maximum fines of a whopping $50,000.
A media report out of Toronto on Wednesday states that a man there was ticketed $880 for doing chin-ups in a park closed to the public.
In Montreal, a dozen youth were each fined $1,500 for playing soccer on an outdoor field.
Dog walkers in a number of cities have been penalized for wandering into areas now deemed off-limits.
In Hamilton, advocates condemned the municipality and the province after a few homeless people, who allegedly were part of a gathering of larger than five people on the street, were nailed with $750 tickets.
The executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has spoken out against “unfair and arbitrary” enforcement of regulations imposed to address the coronavirus.
In the NWT, so far, so good. No fines were handed out over the Easter long weekend.
It's worth noting, however, some southern jurisdictions allowed for a week or two as an education period before resorting to hitting people in the pocketbook.
We certainly hope the NWT Compliance and Enforcement Taskforce will exercise considerable discretion. A family picnic at a cabin along the Ingraham Trail shouldn't merit the same response as a bustling house party at Frame Lake.
The North, in the eyes of many, used to be viewed as akin to the Wild Wild West. While many regulations have been introduced and refined over the years, we still enjoy some privileges long gone in the south.
The pandemic is curtailing some freedoms and we all have to make some sacrifices in the name of maintaining health. The scofflaws who flout the new Covid-19 rules are inviting a financial penalty.
But the NWT task force should continue to refrain from creating media stories in Yellowknife where a lone dog walker pays a hefty price or someone passing through a park falls prey to “gotcha.”