CANMORE – Two of the largest employers in the Bow Valley have introduced a vaccine mandate for all staff.
The Town of Canmore and Spring Creek have asked staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of their employment.
Spring Creek employs about 350 employees, while the Town of Canmore has about 300 full- and part-time staff.
The decision was ultimately made with the health and safety in mind of both staff and residents, Town of Canmore CAO Lisa de Soto said.
“We know we don’t exist in isolation from the broader community and from the province, especially given we’re a tourism destination,” she said. “Our community and employees are vulnerable to outside influences more than a regular community our size, so after everyone had submitted their vaccine status we knew we had a very high vaccine rate.
“We do believe that vaccines are supported by the large majority of our community. We looked at all options, but it did become evident that leadership was needed, especially with our recreation facilities where we were requiring all of our patrons to be vaccinated and we needed to take that extra step to make sure all of our staff were vaccinated.”
Town of Canmore employees had until Oct. 1 to inform human resources of their vaccination status – which remained confidential – and the Town issued the vaccine mandate directive on Oct. 14.
Any employees not vaccinated are required to get their first dose by Oct. 26 and the second before Dec. 7.
For employees who don’t meet the deadline, they will be placed on unpaid leave.
de Soto noted the vaccination rate among staff was extremely high, with less than a handful yet to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
She said the decision was made when COVID-19 infection rates were climbing again in the province and with Elevation Place and the Canmore recreation centre taking part in the vaccine passport program – also known as the Restrictions Exemption Program – it was the right move to require all staff to get vaccinated.
“We were already going to require vaccines of those employees, which impacted 66 of our employee base. Most of them are part-time and casual, so we were already going down the road requiring mandatory vaccination and the numbers were climbing in the province.”
The Town of Banff made a similar move in September for its roughly 300 employees. Town staff had until Sept. 23 to get vaccinated or face losing their jobs.
A handful of Town of Banff employees were let go after choosing to not be vaccinated.
The Town of Banff was one of the first municipalities in Alberta to mandate all municipal employees be vaccinated, with the City of Calgary following suit shortly afterwards with a deadline of Oct. 18.
Frank Kernick, the owner of Spring Creek properties, similarly said the goal is to provide a safe workplace and to promote public safety.
“The purpose is to make sure everyone’s vaccinated and that you’re protecting your clients, protecting your staff and protecting your business,” he said.
“I think everyone understands we’re all here to look after each other. It’s been a long road for all of us. We’ve had to shut down our businesses many times throughout this pandemic. I’ve had many comments from staff that are proud we’re doing this.”
Spring Creek has several properties in Canmore such as the Origin retirement home at Spring Creek, The Malcolm, the Iron Goat and employees in sales, client care and vacations. Kernick said for staff who had concerns or were hesitant, they met and attempted to work through any issues employees felt.
All employees of Origin at Spring Creek are mandated by Alberta Health Services to be fully vaccinated.
Kernick also said the next phase is to ensure the hundreds of subcontractors employed on and off by Spring Creek during the year are also vaccinated.
Kernick said with guests being required to show proof of vaccination when entering their restaurants or hotels, it was natural to require staff to do the same.
“We’re trying to be a leader in the community and really hope other businesses follow suit because I think that’s the only way we’ll 100 per cent move forward,” Kernick said. “We’re a tourist town and I think it was important that all visitors know that we are a safe community to come to.”
The Alberta government introduced its vaccine passport program in September. The program took the onus off the province in mandating vaccines and gave the decision to businesses whether they would participate or not.
The province announced Monday (Nov. 1) that more than 3.2 million Albertans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. They said since Sept. 15, roughly 264,000 residents have received a first dose and a further 293,000 a second dose.
“Vaccines are highly effective at protecting us from severe illness,” said Dr. Deena Hinshaw, the province’s chief medical officer of health in a release. “While we continue to see the number of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decline, this trend could reverse quickly if we are not careful. We need as many people as possible to choose vaccine protection to help keep numbers moving in the right direction.”
