A La Ronge town councillor voted against a council’s motion to send a letter to the Saskatchewan government asking for an exemption from the travel restrictions for travel to and from the Northern Saskatchewan Administrative District.
La Ronge is now exempt from the restrictions along with Stony Rapids.
Councillor Jordan McPhail said he voted against the motion because the physical and mental health of the community is his main priority.
McPhail said he thought of the people living in over-crowded homes as well as other vulnerable populations in the area when he made the decision.
While the region has not reported any positive cases of COVID-19 yet, McPhail said allowing people from outside the community could bring positive cases of the virus.
He also said he doesn’t know how the exemption will work, citing the fact that La Ronge is the only community of the tri-communities to be exempt. The Lac La Ronge Indian Band and the Village of Air Ronge are supporting the province’s restrictions.
“From a logistical stand-point, with two out of the three partners wanting the road-blocks, I’m not entirely sure how things will change today,” McPhail said.
McPhail said leadership from the tri-communities should be in agreeance in a time like this.
“It is, I think, really important to take a regional approach to this,” McPhail said. “Although the Town of La Ronge does not have a particularly high number of overcrowded homes in our region, we [the tri-communities] all share the Co-Op and the gas stations so we have to take a leadership front on this.”
Although council ultimately made the decision to ask for an exemption, McPhail said it’s still up to community members to keep the region free of positive cases of COVID-19.
“It doesn’t matter at the end of the day what we decide as a council,” McPhail said. “If we can personally take it upon ourselves and do whatever we can and the best we can to keep the spread down.”