The Cariboo Regional District will be holding a special Board meeting on Wednesday (Jan 19) to discuss the mandatory vaccine rule for volunteer fire fighters.
CRD Chair Margo Wagner says right now the vaccine mandate, that took effect today, remains in place.
She says they also understand the urgency to make a decision, given that the deadline was today.
“There is and that’s why we’re having a special Board meeting. We have to have 24-hours notice to call a special Board meeting and Tuesday is not a good day for us to have a meeting. A lot of the municipalities have Council meetings on Tuesday.”
Wagner says she wants to reassure the public that to her knowledge there are no CRD fire departments that don’t have the numbers to respond to calls in the meantime.
That said, she says she understands the public’s concern on this issue.
“I am hearing it, we are all hearing it. I know there is another side to this, and I would just request that people really consider what they’re reading on Facebook. There is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there, that I can’t fix, nobody can fix. But I would respectfully ask that the constituents of the Regional District give us the time to try and work through this.”
On Friday, CRD Board members voted in favour of deferring the workplace rule on mandatory vaccination for fire fighters for a couple of months to allow for further discussion.
That recommendation was said to be being considered by Chief Administrative Officer John MacLean.