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About-face vote sees Canmore council rescind mask bylaw

In an about-face from earlier in their meeting, Canmore council switched from heading to a special meeting later this week to discuss their mask bylaw to scraping it with a 6-1 vote.
Canmore
RMO File photo.

CANMORE – The Town of Canmore is now among the growing number of Alberta municipalities to rescind its mask bylaw.

But Town council didn’t reach the decision without changing its path mid-meeting.

After failing to reach third reading with unanimous support, which would’ve led to a special meeting later this week, a motion brought forward before the end of the meeting had them reconsider the temporary bylaw.

Coun. Esmé Comfort, who along with Coun. Joanna McCallum initially voted against the removal of the bylaw, had a motion to reconsider the original vote.

“I think it’s highly unlikely that two councillors will sway the five others to give us the majority we need to deny this bylaw,” Comfort said. “In the interest of speeding it up and avoiding a five minute meeting and also to advance a number of activities people want to have take place, I would like to make a motion to reconsider the third reading.”

Council voted 6-1 in favour of immediately ending the bylaw, with McCallum the lone vote of opposition.

She expressed concern for the levels of second vaccination in the population, particularly in age groups under 39.

Though Canmore has a high rate of vaccination for the first dose, people are continuing to get vaccinated for a second shot, which is followed by the two week period to consider a person fully vaccinated.

According to provincial statistics, as of July 4 there were 78.6 per cent of people with one dose who were 12 years and older. However, it drops to 50 per cent for second doses. And while the 60 to 74 age range has 79.5 per cent and then 92.2 per cent for 75 and up, other age categories are far below.

The age group of 20 to 39 is 29.9 per cent and 12 to 19 are 31.2 per cent. The 40 to 59 age category is 53.8 per cent.

“These numbers are not supporting what we’re articulating … I’m happy we’ll all carry masks for businesses that still require them, but what about people who haven’t got their vaccine and infecting these cohorts who only have their first vaccine?” McCallum said.

“I feel like after all this time, we’ve sort of forgotten the actual reason for wearing the mask. It’s not about protecting ourselves, but it’s about protecting other people.”

She emphasized how the 59 and under age groups are still in the process of receiving their second dose, which are also the people who have younger families and are the working backbone of the town.

Coun. Jeff Hilstad said in speaking to pharmacies in town, there were appointments available if people were willing to “mix and match” doses between Pfizer and Moderna. Coun. Vi Sanford also expressed faith in statements from Alberta Health Services saying vaccinations were increasing.

Banff town council voted to scrap its outdoor and indoor mask bylaw at a special meeting June 30.


Banff council also noted the difficulty in enforcing the bylaw with the province having stopped its backing of a mask mandate once the province reached stage three of their reopening process.


Other nearby municipalities such as Airdrie and Cochrane have ditched its mask bylaws. The City of Calgary voted July 5 to drop its bylaw, with the exception of public transit and in city buildings, while British Columbia lifted its provincial masking on July 1 and Saskatchewan has announced plans to do so on July 11.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is continuing to recommend people wear a mask while indoors with only one or no COVID-19 vaccination. However, people who were fully vaccinated could meet indoors in small groups without a mask.

The World Health Organization is continuing to urge people to wear masks when indoors in public whether they’re partially or fully vaccinated. Other countries and continents who have loosened mask restrictions have started to return to stricter public health restrictions as the Delta variant has spread.

The medical community has largely voiced opposition to the removal, particularly with the more contagious Delta variant growing in confirmed cases and a low percentage of people still not receiving their second COVID-19 vaccination.

Canmore first brought in the temporary bylaw Aug. 7 and then amended it at its Dec. 15 meeting to include further public health restrictions to protect residents.

While possibly seen as having little significance, a province mask directive reinforces a municipality’s ability to stress the importance. However, once removed, it leaves a municipality largely on its own, with only in-house resources to enforce the bylaw.

In a tourism area such as the Bow Valley, where many people are visiting from outside of the communities, they may be coming from an area without a mask bylaw and more unlikely to follow the local bylaws.

“We all need to respect each other’s situations and comfort levels. COVID is not over, but the rapid rollout of the second vaccine doses is very encouraging and it is available in the Bow Valley. … We need to have as many of us vaccinated as possible and as quickly as possible,” Coun. Vi Sanford said.

Mayor John Borrowman added that if COVID-19 cases do climb, council could quickly call a special meeting to return to the masking bylaw.

However, with the pandemic far from over, McCallum urged the necessity in keeping precautions in place, particularly with public transit continuing to need masks and now not other places.

“I want to remind my colleagues that COVID is nowhere near being over. I’m not fear mongering. I’m stating truth. We know that herd immunity will not be found until everyone receives their second inoculation at 75 per cent of the population at the minimum,” she said. “That’s what the federal government has told us. That’s scientific fact. It is scientific fact that the backbone of our workforce have the lowest levels of vaccination. … COVID is not over and we still have a long way to go as a community to protect everyone. If we’re actually in this together, we’re in this together and we’re going to protect everyone.”

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