Website that lists businesses that still require masks receives love from users, grief from haters
Three-hundred businesses are now listed on Safer Shopping Network, a website designed to pinpoint which retailers still require customers wear masks, and the list is growing.
The governments of both British Columbia and Alberta have lifted their mask mandates, but individual businesses can set their own policies.
The team behind Safer Shopping Network told CTV News Vancouver that the site is meant to be a tool to help anyone who is still wary of shopping without masks, like parents with children who aren’t vaccinated, or anyone who is immunocompromised.
“They don’t really know which places they can go to safely, they don’t know the vaccination status of people, they honestly can’t go about their lives the way everyone else can,” said co-founder Crystal Mundy. “So we started the Safer Shopping Network to do some of the labour for these people.”
She stressed this isn’t meant to be a blacklist of businesses that don’t require masks, but a site that takes away the guessing work.
For the most part, the response has been positive, but Mundy admitted the team received a lot of hateful comments from the anti-mask crowd.
Launched Saturday night, the site initially had a comment box where people could submit useful tips, like which business are allowing customers book appointments, but Mundy said she had to pull it down.
“People were going in and making false entries, and then of course putting harmful content, calling people ‘sheep,’ and telling them not to wear a mask,” she told CTV News from Edmonton. “Every single life is somebody’s somebody, right? And I include myself in there, my grandmother died of COVID in a long-term care facility.”
Mundy is prepared for more vitriol, but vowed to keep the site going, because she feels it’s helping others.
So far only businesses in B.C. and Alberta are listed, but the team plans to add retailers from other provinces when they lift their mask mandates.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Spectacular aurora light show to be seen across Canada Friday night
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
McGill University seeks emergency injunction to dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment
McGill University has filed a request for an injunction to have the pro-Palestinian encampment removed from its campus.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
U.S. says Israel's use of U.S. arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel's use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.