NORTH BATTLEFORD ‑ After some initial talk from City Hall about phasing the practise out, the City of North Battleford says they will still accept wallet cards for proof of vaccination at City facilities.
The City had indicated at council earlier this month they were planning to phase out wallet cards as accepted proof, and move towards accepting QR codes for entry to facilities. According to a memo, posters had gone up at all recreation facilities stating the wallet cards were not going to be accepted as of Jan. 17.
But the city has decided not to implement the change at this time. Council made it official at Monday's meeting, as they unanimously approved administration's recommendation to continue to accept wallet cards as one of the approved proof of vaccination documents to enter City facilities.
City Manager Randy Patrick explained they had looked at making the change to a QR code policy to address concerns about people using improper ID.
But Patrick said it came back that a switch "would impact far more people negatively, way more than we would be stopping coming in with wrong ID or wrong vaccination records.”
A memo from Director of Parks and Recreation Cheryl DeNeire, expanded further about the issues the City faced in making such a change.
DeNeire noted about 70 per cent of CUplex patrons were using their wallet cards with ID. Of those, it was noted about half did not have an issue changing to a QR code system as they were already registered, but the rest did not have a Sask. Health record account set up.
Meanwhile, the galleries department was reporting that 95 per cent of visitors were showing wallet cards.
It was also noted Saskatoon, Prince Albert and Lloydminster accepted the SHA wallet cards in their facilities. Some user groups using City-owned facilities have more stringent requirements in place and those include the Dekker Centre, Twin Rivers Curling Club, the leased space at Don Ross Centre and the Battlefords North Stars.
In the end, DeNeire’s memo called for wallet cards to continue to be accepted as one of the approved documents, citing “the range and number of people that would be negatively affected by this exclusion.”
While the decision to accept wallet cards was unanimous at council, there was still concern expressed by some councillors at the meeting about people being able to get around the proof of vax requirements.
Councillor Kent Lindgren noted many people “are finding a way to go around those policies to access our facilities.” He cited instances where people would enter facilities after commissionaires or volunteers leave the front doors.
In response, DeNeire pledged to address as many issues as possible.
