Students in the Canadian province of Alberta will not be required to wear face masks in school Monday, as the provincial government dropped its mandate amid protests by truckers in the nation’s capital of Ottawa.
The western Canadian province of Alberta lifting its school mask mandate marks a significant change in coronavirus restrictions in one part of a nation that has become the epicenter of international backlash against vaccine and mask mandates.
In a tweet on Sunday, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, a member of the Conservative Party and head of the provincial government, said that “kids must come first as we lift damaging restrictions” and that he was “looking forward to all the smiling faces tomorrow.”
Starting tomorrow, masks will not be mandatory for Alberta students while attending school.
Kids must come first as we lift damaging restrictions.
Looking forward to all the smiling faces tomorrow! ? pic.twitter.com/opWWrnktjn
— Jason Kenney (@jkenney) February 13, 2022
OTTAWA POLICE AWAIT BACKUP BEFORE MOVING IN TO DISMANTLE CONVOY PROTEST
The province is home to the cities of Calgary and Edmonton, Canada’s fourth and fifth largest cities, and it shares a border with the state of Montana.
The Alberta government’s move to lift school mask mandates comes as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has refused to relax any vaccine or mask mandates, even as a convoy of truckers has gridlocked Ottawa and disrupted economic trade at the border with the United States.
Trudeau and other Canadian officials have denounced the convoy, and efforts to disperse the protest and arrest demonstrators began over the weekend.
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School boards throughout Alberta were informed last week by Education Minister Adriana LaGrange that they would not be able to impose their own school mask mandates and that going forward, the decision to wear a mask must be entirely up to parents and students, the Calgary Herald reported.
