Masks likely aren't going anywhere in Canada — even as provinces ditch mandates

Mask mandates will continue lifting across Canada in the coming weeks, leaving people on their own when it comes to whether to pull the polarizing public health tool out of their back pocket to reduce their risk of COVID-19.

But as provinces and territories shift to living with the virus and the true scale of spread in Canada remains uncertain with testing scaled back dramatically, the future of masking will look very different across the country — and it may further divide Canadians.

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Friday that federal agencies overseeing masking mandates in Canada for things like domestic travel are evaluating the situation and could make "policy adjustments as needed in the coming days and weeks."

Alberta lifted almost all pandemic public health measures on March 1, with capacity and gathering limits completely removed and indoor masking requirements abolished everywhere outside of only the highest-risk settings, such as hospitals.

Premier Jason Kenney said the province would also take the extraordinary step of forcing municipalities to lift mask bylaws to avoid "uncertainty and confusion" with public health restrictions. Calgary has abandoned them, but Edmonton is leaving them in place for now. 

Timothy Caulfield, Canada Research Chair in health law and policy and professor at the University of Alberta, said the debate over masking will be the next "divisive topic" for the public going forward.

"Masks have been a divisive topic for a very long time, but I think it's really going to become the focal point," he said. "This is going to be increasingly about ideology … this is really about where you stand politically." 

Masks will no longer be required in Manitoba as of March 15, after vaccine certificates were lifted earlier this month, while Saskatchewan lifted mask mandates March 1 and Quebec took its first step toward doing so this week. Most students in the province are no longer required to wear masks in class. 

Ontario has kept masking mandates in place for now, after lifting all remaining capacity limits on indoor settings and scrapping its vaccine certificate system last week, but will likely drop its mask mandate by the end of the month. 

"If the question is asked today, should we lift the mask mandate? The answer is no. I think it's too soon," said Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases physician at Toronto General Hospital and member of Ontario's COVID-19 vaccine task force. 

"We can all look at the same data and come to different conclusions. I definitely think there will be a day where the mask mandate can and should be lifted — it's just not today." 

Part of the problem with mask mandates is that clear cut data on their effectiveness can be hard to find, with population level studies on masking facing challenges with capturing how different public health measures factor into controlling the spread of COVID-19.

Another challenge is that masking and capacity limits were introduced at about the same time in much of Canada, so it is difficult to distinguish the effect of one measure over another. 

"One of the reasons I think that this topic is so divisive and we're seeing this kind of ragged exit from our mask policies is because the science is uncertain," Caulfield said.