BRUCE WILLIAMS
VICTORIA – The Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce looks forward to working with the provincial government to help ensure a smooth rollout of plans for businesses to require proof of vaccination for social and recreational settings starting Sept. 13.
“Keeping businesses open and ensuring the safety of staff and customers is the priority for every employer I’ve talked to,” Chamber CEO Bruce Williams said. “It’s frustrating that we’re still dealing with restrictions at this point of the summer, but I don’t think anyone is surprised to see yet another curveball from COVID-19. People in Greater Victoria have done a remarkable job in getting immunized and reducing the risk in our region, and from what I’m hearing there’s support for the province’s announcement for a vaccine passport.”
The measures will be re-assessed on Jan. 31, 2022, to determine if an extension is required. The provincial government also announced that, starting tomorrow, masks must be worn in all indoor public spaces.
“Immunization really is the way out of this and there’s little tolerance for people who don’t have legitimate medical reasons for not getting vaccinated,” Williams said. “The same for the temporary return of the mask mandate. Until we can be sure that everyone we’re interacting with socially has done their part to reduce risk, it makes sense to require masks in situations where we don’t know the vaccination status of others.”
“Right now, we’re working with government on behalf of a number of community partners on how vaccine passports and mask mandates are enforced,” Williams said. “It can’t fall to frontline staff to enforce these policies. Employers are already struggling to find and keep workers, and the prospect of dealing with aggressively opinionated anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers should not be part of the job description.”
