The Capital Regional District has also just announced a new email address for residents of the electoral areas to use to ask questions of and communicate directly with the CRD, since in-person communication is not possible at this time.
For Salt Spring Island the address is ssicovid@crd.bc.ca. For the Southern Gulf Islands it is sgicovid@crd.bc.ca.
Inboxes are monitored Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and the CRD says it will respond to inquiries as quickly as possible.
“If questions fall outside the CRD’s area of responsibility for electoral area governance, best efforts will be made to re-direct inquiries to the appropriate resource,” they state.
A www.crd.bc.ca/covid website outlines the CRD’s response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Municipal bylaw enforcement officers have also been empowered by the province to educate people on the orders and recommendations made by the provincial health officer. CRD bylaw enforcement chief Don Brown noted Salt Spring has only one full-time officer on staff at this time of year, but that person will provide guidance if too many people are gathering or physical distancing is not being maintained at local parks.
“The more people stay safe, the sooner we get rid of this thing and get back to normal,” Brown said.
The province has not given bylaw enforcement officers the ability to issue tickets around COVID-19 orders at this time, although Brown said that could change in the future.