The B.C. Conservation Foundation has challenged the Town of Lake Cowichan to institute a bylaw prohibiting harmful sunscreens from being sold in town, and council has agreed to look into it.
Councillor Aaron Frisby, the owner of the Tube Shack, said following that 2024 challenge by the foundation, he was appointed to survey local merchants to gauge their support.
"I have now spoken with all the businesses in town and I can report that everyone is very positive about such an action," he said at the town's March 11 Committee of the Whole meeting. "The general feeling is that this is more than achievable."
To that effect, he made a motion that the Town of Lake Cowichan "put out a statement advising residents and businesses of our stance on the sale of harmful sunscreens in our community" and that the statement should be released on March 22, International Water Day.
Frisby also made a motion that staff research the legality of a bylaw that bans all sunscreens that are not non-nano mineral sunscreens, being sold in the Town of Lake Cowichan and the town's capacity to enforce such a bylaw.
Frisby's motion was seconded by Mayor Tim McGonigle.
"I think we've discussed this many times but I think to put out a statement to that effect that we are looking at possibilities and not going down the same route that some other municipalities have done with bylaws and then have it go to court and be overturned... doing the investigation prior to the bylaw implementation I think is imperative to ensuring that it will succeed," McGonigle said.
"I think education on this is really important that we do more," said Councillor Kristine Sandhu. "I don't support a bylaw because you have to have the enforcement to back that up and we don't have bylaw [officers] on weekends so that can be a problem.
"I think working with the Cowichan Lake River Stewardship, the Cowichan Watershed board, and trying to formulate some sort of plan to go out in the community, Saywell Park, during the summer and different parks and that and just educate and show what is the good sunscreen for the river and what isn't and what our local businesses offer and then at least that gives people something to think about, even a little piece of paper with something they can take it home with them and it's just food for thought," Sandhu said.
Councillor Carloyne Austin agreed with Sandhu.
"I don't think a bylaw would work either. I think education is the key in everything, it's like recycling or everything else," she said.
Frisby said the B.C. Conservation Foundation has been working in the community for five years, doing exactly what the previous two speakers wanted to see being done.
"They have summer students that set up kiosks around the lake and river, [and] at Saywell Park," he said, adding that the students also have had informational handouts.
"All the things you stated are agreed upon but are in place already," Frisby told Austin. He said the B.C. Conservation Foundation are the ones asking the town to do more.
"I understand people's concerns on bylaws and enforcement," Frisby said. "I think we would struggle to enforce any bylaw at the moment."
After all of council had their say, the motion was passed and a statement will be released by the town on March 22.
