Princess Elizabeth's Royal Visit to Calgary, October 1951

These are photos of the Royal Visit to Calgary taken by my father, Arnold Roberton in 1951. At that time, Elizabeth was still Princess Elizabeth and was visiting as the representative of her father, King George VI, who was unwell.                                 

Arrival at the C.P.R. Station in Calgary

Princess Elizabeth and Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh with Lieutenant Governor John J. Bowlen and below with Calgary Mayor Don Mackay outside City Hall.

In the motorcade.

 

A Reflection on Labour Day

 As Labour Day rolled out this year (2022), my thoughts were with the countless number of employees who were placed at risk every single day in my province (Alberta) during the COVID-19 pandemic because employers refused to comply with or enforce mask mandates. Even worse, when these employers were reported to the Alberta government, as they were time and time again, the government did nothing about it.

My question is: In cases where employees became seriously ill, developed long-COVID or even died from work-related COVID, what is the liability of employers who knowingly and deliberately ignored public health mandates? When I posed this question to the Alberta Occupation Health and Safety Board, the representative I spoke to would not even discuss the matter with me as I was just a ‘member of the public’ and not specifically an employee or and employee. 

Throughout the mandates, I often asked employees if they had the right to refuse to serve someone who was not wearing a mask. Most said ‘they didn’t know’, which suggested the subject had never even been discussed with them. I also asked managers and HR reps the same question, and for the most part they said ‘yes’, so why didn’t the employees know that? However, when I asked one manager in Extra Foods, a division of Loblaws, she informed me that they had actually been instructed by “head office” not to enforce the mask mandate. Subsequently, I wrote two letters (one in January 2022 and another in March 2022) to Loblaws corporate headquarters in Canada asking for clarification, but to date, have received no reply.

The photo above shows signage on the door of one business in Central Alberta, taken on September 12, 2021 while mask mandates in public places were in effect. Curiously enough, the business appears to have no problem complying with another public health mandate which prohibits pets from entering the store –  much more serious, apparently, than protecting staff and customers against a potentially deadly virus.