Mask rules to stay for federal buildings

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This article was published 28/02/2022 (1326 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Manitoba is about to drop requirements for both masks and proof of vaccination in the public spaces the province regulates, but Ottawa remains cautious about its turf.

That means Winnipeggers should take both a mask and their immunization card when visiting federal office buildings and the Royal Canadian Mint.

In fact, masks should be the last COVID-19 measure that Canadians scrap, the nation’s top doctor said.

“Even if there are no requirements, depending on the virus activity level, people should choose to wear a mask,” Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday.

“It’s good for the prevention of not just COVID-19, but maybe other respiratory viruses as well,” Tam said, in response to questions from the Free Press.

The public service occupational health program, which provides guidance to federal government workplaces, says it still advises indoor workers in Manitoba and elsewhere to keep their masks on.

“Based on the latest evidence, (Health Canada) recommends that masks are worn in federal workplaces, even if there is no longer a provincial mask mandate,” wrote departmental spokeswoman Anne Génier.

She noted that it’s still up to federal departments and agencies to craft rules that reflect their work settings, employee tasks and local COVID-19 trends.

“Masks are an important public health measure that can help prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19,” Génier wrote.

Crown corporations set their own rules, and seem to be proceeding cautiously.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights will drop its vaccine-passport requirement alongside the province on March 1, but is still pondering whether it will require face masks when Manitoba scraps that rule on March 15.

The Royal Canadian Mint says it will consider lifting some rules in the future. “For the time being, the Mint is maintaining the requirement for visitors to our facilities in Winnipeg and Ottawa to mask and provide proof of vaccination,” wrote spokeswoman Michelle Richardson.

The other major Crown corporation based in Winnipeg does not have many visitors; the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. processing plant in Transcona did not respond when asked whether it would maintain masking requirements.

Private workplaces that Ottawa regulates — such as banks, railways and grain elevators — must set their own rules in compliance with a hazard-prevention code that aims to protect employees from COVID-19, as well as any other workplace risk.

Those policies include whether employees and visitors need to mask up.

“If the hazard identification and assessment determines that the most effective preventative measure is the provision of masks, employers must also provide training on the use, care, maintenance, and limitations of the equipment,” wrote Saskia Rodenburg, a spokeswoman for Employment and Social Development Canada.

For months, Ottawa had required COVID-19 vaccination or a valid exemption for all government employees, including in Crown corporations, the military and the RCMP. The federal government is still consulting on its aim to broaden that requirement to include the private workplaces it regulates.

But whether visitors need a proof of vaccination to enter these spaces varies based on the sector.

Tam said provinces are in an awkward phase of pivoting toward optional measures, which many Winnipeg workplaces and public spaces have opted to maintain.

“We’ve got to begin to move beyond requirements, and adapt our personal habits as well, to prevent virus infections,” Tam said.

She added that those at higher risk of serious outcomes from COVID-19 should be extra cautious, regardless of what their province is requiring.

“We need to do a better job of equipping individuals with the tools that they need to make those personal-based decisions,” she said.

People can decide whether to don a mask based on virus trends, the same way people dress for weather conditions, Tam added.

“Masks remain one of the foundational levels of protection — and it may be the last thing that you want to remove in your personal armamentarium of tools.”

Tam’s assistant, Dr. Howard Njoo, added that people should respect other people who opt to wear a mask in public.

“We also want to make sure that we don’t stigmatize and making it difficult for individuals, who choose or maybe want to wear a mask for lots of reasons,” he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca