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By Shaun Penner
mandatory Face Coverings

Masks still mandatory under provincial health orders, despite municipal bylaw expiry

Jan 26, 2021 | 11:12 AM

While the City of Grande Prairie’s own, municipal Temporary Mandatory Face Covering (Mask) Bylaw (C-1426) is set to expire on Sunday, masks will still be mandatory in all indoor public places in Grande Prairie due to public health orders issued by the Alberta Government.

Grande Prairie City Council passed the municipal (city-specific) bylaw on September 8, 2020, which was then triggered on October 26, 2020. The Bylaw, when passed in September, had an expiry date of January 31, 2021, meaning the Bylaw needed to be reviewed by council by that time to keep it in force.

“The mandatory mask bylaw was instituted when there was no direction from the province, at a time that we needed to safeguard our community,” said Mayor Jackie Clayton, following Monday’s council meeting.

At Monday’s meeting, council defeated a motion (a request) to have the Bylaw reviewed every two months and to keep it in force. With that motion defeated, the bylaw is now set to expire on Sunday.

However, the decision to let it expire comes as the province has brought forward its own provincial order, which supersedes the municipal bylaw.

“Currently, we are still under jurisdiction of the provincial mandate,” explained Clayton.

The provincial orders, issued on December 8, 2020, makes masks mandatory in all indoor public spaces in Alberta, including the City of Grande Prairie.

Under the provincial mandate, masks are mandatory in all:

  • indoor public places
  • places of worship
  • indoor workplaces and facilities outside the home, except:
    • when working alone in an office or a safely distanced cubicle or a barrier is in place
    • rental accommodations used solely for the purposes of a private residence
    • farm operations (exempt)

“Council has decided that the regulation that is set from the province is the regulation that we will be following and the existing bylaw that ends January 31 will no longer be in place.”

Though the city’s bylaw will expire, it will remain dormant and can be re-instated if council chooses to do so.

“In the future, if council does want to use that bylaw, they have that tool at their disposal.”

The full list of public health measures implemented by the Alberta Government can be found here.

by Shaun Penner