Police had to be called Friday afternoon to escort a man out of the Coquitlam Public Library after he refused to wear a mask.
The incident took place at the Poirier Branch at 1:15 p.m., Dec. 11, raising concerns about public and staff safety, according to the library’s executive director, who said provincial health orders require masks in both the Poirier and City Centre branches but a growing number of people are balking at the measures.
While people with medical health conditions can be excused, the man said he simply didn’t want to wear a mask and that his health wasn’t an issue, said library head Todd Gnissios.
“This particular gentleman doesn’t believe he needs to wear a mask. He refuses,” Gnissios confirmed, adding the man didn’t back down even when he was warned by staff that the Coquitlam RCMP would be called.
Gnissios said the man told staff “go ahead, and call the police.”
A short time later two RCMP officers showed up and escorted the man out of the branch without any further incident.
And this isn’t the first time anti-maskers have tried to utilize library services at City Centre and Poirier Branches, putting staff at risk and requiring the assistance of the Coquitlam RCMP.
Gnissios said if people can’t wear masks for medical reasons they will not be helped except from behind Plexiglass at the main counter. Staff are required to be six feet away from library patrons because of provincial health orders.
If people can’t wear masks for some reason, it’s recommended they use online services, which have been expanded during the pandemic, or reserve books for pick-up curb-side.
While he said the majority of people don masks as required, some will pull them down from their nose or refuse to wear them outright.
Indeed, since Dr. Bonnie Henry imposed a mandatory indoor mask policy Nov. 19, a growing number of people have been refusing to wear masks and have to be asked to leave, sometimes by getting police involved.
Some people go to great lengths to protest wearing masks, according to Gnissios, describing one woman who refused because she lives in ‘Kanata,’ not Canada, which has different laws and declared mask-wearing illegal.
“We say to people, ‘If you don’t want to wear a mask you don’t have to come in.’”
Still, the number of people in Coquitlam who don’t want to wear a mask indoors at a library surprises even Gnissios, who says the goal of the order is to keep people safe not to make life difficult for people.
Most opposition to wearing masks indoors has been at the larger City Centre Branch, with about three incidences a day compared to about three a week at Poirier.
“We’re trying to keep track, we get occurrence reports for everyone who refuses to wear a mask, any time there’s an altercation,” said Gnissios.
In many cases, people refuse to comply because masks are uncomfortable, but for others, he said, “it’s a political issue.”
Gnissios said he would like people to understand that individual actions can harm others and it’s important to be mindful of staff who work with the public and don’t want to catch the coronavirus.
Gnissios said he has an elderly mother in hospital who is coming home soon, and he can’t see her because he deals with the public and is concerned about catching COVID-19 and spreading it to his mom.
He said staff spent weeks drawing up a safety plan so the library could re-open. For the most part, it’s been working well, with staff receiving a number of positive comments from the public happy there is still somewhere that provides some “normalcy” to their lives, especially for children.
There are also restrictions on the number of patrons — 35 at Poirier and 50 at City Centre — and people are only allowed to stay two hours, but most leave quickly.
“I believe we’ve created a good balance,” Gnissios said. “We just ask people coming in to abide by the rules.
“The majority do.”
