Starting on Wednesday, Sept. 22, anyone 12 and over must show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination to get into the Vollmer Complex and LaSalle Civic Centre in LaSalle.
The decision comes ahead of the province's vaccine certificate system going into place, and follows similar plans implemented in other municipalities.
Mayor Marc Bondy says they may have to get staff working the front of the doors to confirm people's status as they come in, or they may need to contract that out.
"Because we have younger staff at the Vollmer, and as you know not everybody is wanting to follow the rules, so we might have to have someone else come in older in age to do the screening and keep our staff running the facility," he says.
Bondy says they've already received pushback on the policy, despite only putting out notice of it on Friday, but he says they're following what's happening elsewhere in Ontario.
"People coming to the library not wearing a mask when they have to and they don't want to follow the rules," he says, "So, sometimes you have to call police or people are upset and angry and voicing their displeasure. When you look at the fact the majority of people have been vaccinated, then we have to protect those who are not."
Despite the blowback that has been received however, Bondy says it's still just a minority in the community.
"The majority are following protocols and procedures that we have put in place, but yeah you're going to have the anti-vaxxers or the ones who are completely against it. I respect their wishes but they have to respect the other people's wishes that you can't go somewhere if you're not properly protected," he adds.
Additionally, employees and volunteers working in any capacity at the Town of LaSalle have to be fully vaccinated or they have to get tested twice a week for the virus and provide proof of a negative result, based on the Town's Vaccination Policy.
With files from Aaron Mahoney and Rob Hindi