Fougere, councillors asking Regina residents to wear masks

Regina’s mayor and city councillors are encouraging residents of the Queen City to wear face masks inside public places or public vehicles.

During a media conference Thursday at the Cornwall Centre, Mayor Michael Fougere said people should wear face coverings or masks when they’re in places that aren’t their homes.

Regina Mayor Michael Fougere discusses the city’s plan to encourage residents to wear masks while inside public places or public vehicles. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

“Right now Regina has the highest number of active (COVID-19) cases in the province,” Fougere said. “(We) are encouraging residents to take another step and that’s when going into public spaces or public vehicles, please wear a mask.”

The Regina region, which includes more than just the city itself, has recorded 31 new COVID-19 cases since last Friday.

There also have been advisories issued by the Saskatchewan Health Authority about possible exposures at Regina businesses such as the Real Canadian Superstore’s Golden Mile and Rochdale locations as well as the Walmart in Harbour Landing.

As of Wednesday, Walmart shoppers had to wear masks when inside the store.

Fougere said the city will take a look at implementing its own mandatory mask policy, but would prefer to see the province take the lead and make a uniform law across Saskatchewan.

“It’s best to have a province-wide application, not a patchwork for different municipalities,” Fougere said.

Fougere said the City of Regina and the City Mayors’ Caucus have both asked for the provincial government to make masks mandatory.

He said provincial officials have said they would not oppose a mandatory mask bylaw if the city came up with one.

Fougere admitted if the city brought forward a mandatory mask policy, it could be met with some backlash.

“I respect individuals’ rights and they can judge whether we’ve done the right thing or not, but the chief medical (health) officer is saying what we’re saying: If you go indoors to a public space, wear a mask, take two with you and take them out and use them,” Fougere said.

“If we need to take a step further, I know that my councillor colleagues can rest easy knowing we’ve done this to dampen the spread of this as opposed to doing nothing at all and we have higher rates.”