Juno News - Being against mandatory masks is not a kooky position

00:00:00.000 Hi everyone. For those who don't know, I am a British Columbian. I live in a mid-sized city

00:00:09.380 in BC. And here where I am, our local BC transit buses have signs that say, please wear a face

00:00:16.520 covering. But most people do not, including the bus drivers. And I have yet to patronize a business

00:00:22.880 that required me to put on a mask. And likewise, I've been to many cafes and restaurants where

00:00:28.860 the employees weren't wearing any kind of face covering. So the local culture here really does

00:00:33.740 not emphasize mask wearing. And when I have visited other mid-sized places in BC, so just kind of

00:00:39.860 anywhere outside of the Vancouver area, it is the same case. You are in the minority if you choose

00:00:46.040 to wear a mask. I was quite surprised then when I saw that on the other side of the country, the

00:00:51.840 province of Quebec, city of Toronto, and some regions in Ontario have made masks mandatory in

00:00:58.580 public indoor spaces such as malls, public transit vehicles, and grocery stores. I looked into this

00:01:05.200 a little more and saw that many mainstream media outlets are pushing the idea that if you're against

00:01:09.600 mandatory mask bylaws, you are psychologically unstable, you are not able to think rationally,

00:01:15.580 you are emotionally incapable of dealing with the pandemic, and you're riddled with anxiety and

00:01:20.280 unable to cope with change. So there's this proclivity to medicalize and make judgments upon the

00:01:26.600 psychological well-being of those of us who really just have some qualms with being told that wearing

00:01:33.720 masks will become mandatory. I would think it'd be healthy to have, you know, a little dose of

00:01:39.140 skepticism when some new bylaws are introduced. There have been some viral videos of people who are

00:01:45.520 angrily refusing to wear masks, but those viral videos only showcase a very small contingent of the

00:01:53.800 anti-mandatory mask camp. Now, I am against mandatory masks, but, you know, I've always thought, and this

00:02:01.460 was prior to the pandemic, that on airplanes, I would kind of like it if there was a culture of wearing

00:02:08.520 masks, so if that was normalized on, you know, Canadian airlines, because I've always found that if my

00:02:15.000 seatmate is coughing throughout the voyage, I'll find myself, you know, stuffy and with a bit of a cold

00:02:21.880 within the next 24 to 48 hours. So, you know, I would like to partake in that culture of wearing

00:02:27.460 a mask on a flight. And then I can also see the aesthetic appeal of masking. So concealing part of

00:02:33.960 your face can be kind of fun or add an air of mystery. And then, of course, there are the masks

00:02:39.780 that have interesting prints or cute designs or like funny messages on them. So I am not, you know,

00:02:47.340 100% against mask wearing in all circumstances. I am simply against mandatory masks. BC Provincial

00:02:54.180 Health Officer Bonnie Henry has said she might consider making masks mandatory down the road

00:02:58.920 in British Columbia, though she has expressed that she's concerned about folks with disabilities or

00:03:05.060 respiratory illnesses. So at least for now, I feel fortunate to live in a community where both

00:03:10.820 mask wearers and non-wearers are equally respected and not subject to harassment or financial penalty.

00:03:19.700 And I got to say, in my opinion, the policymaking around COVID-19 has been a little more sound in BC

00:03:26.740 than it has been over in Ontario and Quebec. But you can argue about that in the comment section.

00:03:32.780 I'm Lindsay Shepard with True North. Thanks so much for watching.

Juno News - July 19, 2020