Editor:
Local businesses are mandated to comply with the B.C. Public Health Officer’s orders that are in place to keep us safe when interacting with others in the community. This applies to all businesses and residences, regardless of the circumstance – retail stores, restaurants, business services, public meetings, and private family and/or friend gatherings.
The B.C. Public Health Office’s orders are the law.
Local businesses want to serve their customers in a safe, no risk way, while ensuring that they are legally compliant. This includes the wearing of masks, frequent sanitization of hands and spaces and for everyone to maintain their distance.
The Gibsons Chamber has recently completed a survey of its members and found that there have been many instances of confrontations with local business owners and their staff. Some people are not complying with the above laws and in their interactions they create risk, stress and even fear among our business owners and their staff and this type of behaviour is just plain disrespectful.
Regardless of your views on immunization and the laws imposed during this pandemic, the tragedies all around us are very real – sickness, hospitalizations and death. This lack of respect and instilling of fear is disrespectful and does not support our way of life in this community.
Let’s pull together as a community, and move together with respect into a new and hopefully better year ahead. We all share the goals of living in a peaceful and safe community, so let’s pull together to protect our health, get back to a point of being able to meet, greet, socialize and interact with our family, friends, neighbours and the whole community.
We encourage you to follow the laws today for many better tomorrows ahead and when out and about in our community, please be respectful.
Deb Mowbray, President,
Gibsons & District Chamber of Commerce
