Small towns in B.C. with no bylaw officers could get provincial funding to bring in that resource during the pandemic.

Ashcroft mayor Barbara Roden says that’s her understanding, after the B.C. government gave bylaw officers the power to enforce provincial restrictions last week.

“I’m following the bylaw aspect of it with great interest. We do not have a bylaw officer here in Ashcroft. Now, listening in to a call that took place… It appears that the provincial government is going to be asking municipalities to identify gaps when it comes to dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic,” Roden tells NL News.

“And of course one of them for a lot of small communities, like Ashcroft, will be the lack of a bylaw officer. So what I seem to be hearing and I’m asking for clarification on, they’re saying that if we identify that a bylaw officer is something we need, there will be funding available under the Emergency Protection Act to help us get bylaw officers into small communities.”

Roden says the challenge is that there aren’t necessarily bylaw officers available, but says the province may offer some support to bring in that resource from elsewhere.