Rob Hunter has a daughter who could currently go to school for Junior Kindergarten in the public school system, but she isn’t.
The reason is because his family does not agree with the policy in place within the Grand Erie District School Board that sees masks mandatory for this age group.
Hunter came to the Board Of Health this past Tuesday after he expressed concerns with trustees regarding his child having to wear a mask all day to go to Kindergarten – something that the Province does not mandate but each school board and health unit can make a decision on.
Not satisfied with that answer, he realized a key voice was not at the table for this discussion.
Hunter is hoping that Acting Medical Officer Of Health Dr. Matt Strauss will be able to weigh in with his opinion on the matter as he feels that a voice in Haldimand-Norfolk needs to be heard.
He says he is making this request, even though he is aware that there may be certain labels attached to him by doing so.
For Hunter, he feels that a lot of people are putting too much power on the masks, and it may actually lead to more vaccine hesitancy, not in just Kindergarten but all grades.
He feels that even talking about the option of a certain grade not wearing masks can raise debate and even anger, but he says a world without masks in school does have to be a reality at some point.
For Hunter, with kids getting vaccinated, and several other countries around the world discouraging masking of this age group specifically, he feels masks should not be mandated for Kindergarten students and it should eventually be lifted for all grades.
Right now, county staff is working on how this request will move forward as it was requested that Dr. Strauss make a comment on the matter.
There is no set date on when this will be done.
This deputation to the Board Of Health was not live streamed online or recorded due to a technical error, so we reached out to Hunter and county staff to provide this update.