Mayors across Ontario move to ‘no mask, no service’ by-laws
June 30, 2020
Mayors from the Toronto, Peel, York and the Hamilton area as well as Ottawa have indicated their intention to make wearing face coverings in commercial buildings mandatory in their municipalities. The goal is to both help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and assist the regions in advancing to Stage 3 sooner. This ruling will likely take effect on July 7, 2020.
While the Ontario Government continues to indicate that a province-wide ‘no mask, no service’ policy will not be issued citing challenges with enforcement, a patchwork of municipal policies on wearing face coverings in public will place additional burdens on retailers and other businesses owners to execute.
RCC has been in regular contact with staff and elected officials within the municipalities to highlight liability concerns as well as regulatory oversight to minimize any burden that could fall to retailers with regards to policing these by-laws. RCC is also assessing member perspectives on this matter in order to present considerations to regional medical officers on how the enforcement of mask wearing regulations might be best achieved. For more details, see RCC’s summary of regional face coverings requirements.
