Western University Drops Mask Mandate After ‘Promising Update’ From Public Health on Respiratory Illnesses

A group of Western University students hold a protest against the school's COVID-19 vaccine mandate in London, Ont., on Aug. 27, 2022. Nicole Osborne/The Canadian Press

Western University announced Monday it had dropped its mandatory mask policy due to the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH) issuing a “promising update” on respiratory illnesses including COVID.

In a Feb. 6 website statement, the university said, “Effective today, Western will move from mandating masks in instructional spaces to strongly encouraging masks in crowded indoor spaces like large classes.”

“This move is aligned with the advice of public health. Leaders of research labs will make health and safety decisions based on the appropriate protocols for their lab environment,” said the statement, signed by the university’s academic vice president and provost, and Operations and Finance Vice-President Lynn Logan.

The university said it was asking the campus to “be considerate of individuals who may ask you to wear a mask based on their personal circumstances.”

“Public health officials across the country agree that COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future, and as we learn to live with it, we will continue to adjust and adapt,” said the statement.

This brings Western in line with most of the other universities and colleges across Canada that dropped their mandates in 2022.

One of the last holdouts is Waterloo’s Wilfrid Laurier University, which continues to enforce a mask mandate for any indoor class with an academic focus.

On Feb. 6, a group of students and teachers attended a protest at the Waterloo Town Square, organized by a group called Students Against Mandates. The protest was organized in part by Kamil Bachouchi, who has been engaged in an ongoing peaceful protest against mask mandates since the fall of 2022.

Kamil Bachouchi, a student at Waterloo's Wilfrid Laurier University, wears a lettuce "mask" to protest the school's mask mandate on Jan. 16, 2023. Courtesy of Kamil Bachouchi

Kamil Bachouchi, a 21-year-old philosophy student, showed up to class on Nov. 15, 2022, wearing a “mask”—or rather, a hollowed-out grapefruit.

It covered his nose and mouth, complying with the mandatory mask policy put in place for the fall university term.

Bachouchi told The Epoch Times he started his protest “using a ziploc bag with phone charging cables” going around his ears. He came to class one day wearing a bucket over his head. Another day, he wore a folded-in-half, upside-down blue mask. On Jan. 16, he wore a mask made out of romaine lettuce.

Healthy young adults should not be forced to wear a mask, he said.

On Oct. 17, Western announced it would be keeping its mandatory mask policy until the end of the fall term. Students were required to wear medical-grade masks in classrooms, labs, and seminar rooms.

At the time, the university said “safety ambassadors will monitor classrooms” to ensure COVID protocols were followed.