Windsor's mayor is apologizing after not abiding by COVID-19 rules.
"I did break the rules and I did it unknowingly and it's my fault and I own it," says Drew Dilkens, after photo surfaced on Facebook recently, showing him and seven others dining together at a local restaurant, when the limit of people at a table is six.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Dilkens says it was two days after the province moved Windsor-Essex from green to yellow in the COVID-19 Response Framework.
"In green there was no limit on the number of people sitting together, in yellow there is a limit and that's six people" says Dilkens. "We went to a restaurant and there were eight people, none of us knew we were breaking the rules, clearly the restaurant set a seating for eight, they also didn't realize that the rules were six."
If he could go back, Dilkens says he would obviously do things differently.
"I do care, I do think the rules are very important and had I been aware of the six-person gathering, I certainly would not have gone to the restaurant if there were going to be eight of us and in fact," he says "I would have asked for separate seating with my wife away from the other people to make sure I was in compliance."
Dilkens says he's aware of the optics and knows he's held to a higher standard, adding "And rightfully so. Everywhere I go I'm used to having cameras or people take pictures and this is not the type of thing one could get away with in a climate like this, there was no attempt to get away with any thing, in fact I just didn't know and it's my fault and it's my responsibility."
Because no fines were levied to Dilkens or the others at his table, Dilkens says he will make a $750 donation to Windsor Goodfellows on Tuesday — the amount of a non-compliance ticket.