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The operators of the Langham Cultural Centre in Kaslo won’t have to fear any blowback from the Village for following the orders of the provincial health officer.
Mayor Suzan Hewat issued a statement saying a councillor’s comments that the arts centre should lose its permissive property tax exemption for enforcing vaccine mandates is wrong.
“Regarding the unnecessary controversy targeted at the Langham, the Village cannot use a threat of losing a tax exemption to force an organization to operate unlawfully,” she said in a new release released by the Village on December 10. “The Langham, other organizations and businesses in our community are doing the best they can to interpret and comply with provincial public health orders.”
At the November 23 council meeting, Councillor Kellie Knoll responded to a resident who wondered why the community facility was getting a tax break from the Village, but would not allow some people to attend events there because of the vaccine mandate.
“I am going to talk to the Langham about this, because I do see it as unfair – it does go against the Charter of Rights for our community,” he said. “If they’re going to stick with that, then maybe this year they don’t get their exemption. Because they’re only catering to a small percentage of the population.”
The mayor said the village wouldn’t do that.
“It will be a huge relief when the orders are lifted but in the meantime the Village has no authority to override them,” she assured citizens. “Please be kind and understanding to each other and we will get through this together.”
Langham accessible
In a letter in this week’s Valley Voice, the executive director of the Langham Cultural Society says that only a handful of Langham events are covered by the vaccine mandate.
Paul Grace-Campbell said the facility has worked hard to ensure dozens of programs and services continue for the community, fully accessible to all residents both online and in person. He says the controversy has led to misunderstanding of accessibility at the centre, and they’ve taken it up with council.
