A popular Okanagan outdoor amusement park said the business is being harassed by parents who don’t agree with its COVID-19 mask-wearing policy for children.
Diana Stirling, owner of Locolanding Adventure Park in Penticton, B.C., said the anger and aggression from customers is increasing since the attraction opened for its 20th season on the Easter long weekend, and culminated on Monday when a teenage staff member broke down in tears.
“It’s just relentless. They just won’t stop attacking us online or to my staff in person,” Stirling told Global News.
“They won’t accept that we have a mask policy for all ages and we have this mask policy in order to open our business. If we do not have this level of protection in place, we can’t operate the attractions.”
Wearing a mask is mandatory for all ages in areas of the park where social distancing is not possible, Stirling said.
The teenage worker, who was emotionally distraught after being berated by a parent, is a youth member of the Penticton Indian Band and had been wearing an orange shirt as a sign of respect and mourning for the 215 children whose remains have been found at a former residential school in Kamloops.
“We immediately asked them to leave our park. It is not tolerated and to have our staff in tears, especially on that day, was even more elevated,” Stirling said.
“We have all teenage staff. The majority of them, it’s their first job and these parents are relentless. Our policy is in place for a reason. It’s for the health and safety of all guests and staff.”
“We are asking that anybody who walks through our gates has a mask, and in the areas where social distancing is not able to happen, a mask must be worn,” she said.
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“When our staff is harnessing your child on the high-level ropes course, when they are checking the seatbelt and you adjust your helmet on the go-karts, they are right up against you.”
When children and parents are safely secured and begin their attraction, they can take off their masks, with the exception of the Badlands outdoor inflatable park.
Stirling said the business crafted a unique COVID-19 safety plan in collaboration with Interior Health and WorksafeBC so it could fully open for the season.
“It is our business decision supported by Interior Health,” she said.
Rachelle Naidu, mother to three young girls, said she has concerns about the park’s mask policy.
She worries about the health and safety of her children if they are forced to wear a mask during physical activity or exercise.
“It’s 35-degree weather outside and the kids are jumping around in inflatables,” she said.
Naidu said she is not an anti-masker and wears a mask herself, in line with provincial health orders.
She pointed to World Health Organization guidelines which stipulate: “Children should not wear a mask when playing sports or doing physical activities, such as running, jumping or playing on the playground, so that it doesn’t compromise their breathing.”
Stirling spoke out on social media this week to shine a light on the hardship the small business and its young staff are facing, including nasty reviews online.
“I have been called discriminatory; shameful; ‘a Nazi;’ in human rights violation; that we are ‘abusing children;’ rude and unprofessional; that I’m ‘trying to kill children;’ — for protecting the safety of my staff and our guests,” she wrote on Facebook.
She’s asking customers who have had positive experiences at Locolanding to also write reviews.
Stirling said she has a zero-tolerance policy for abusive or harassing behaviour.
“It’s very simple. If you don’t like it, please don’t visit us,” she said. “I will go to the ends of the earth to protect my staff.”
B.C.’s mandatory mask policy for public indoor settings stipulates that children under the age of 12 are exempt.
Global News has reached out to Interior Health for comment.
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