Welding instructor who warned of mask fire hazard proven right

By Tamara Ugolini
|
December 31, 2020

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Deven Taylor, a full time welding professor at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, has been forced to file a grievance with his union for mask noncompliance. The grievance will take at least a year to be resolved.

The situation at Fanshawe came to a head when the college, in combination with Deven’s union, began mandating that a cotton cloth mask be worn under regular welding masks. Deven warned that having flammable materials on the face while working with flames was a health and safety hazard, but he was threatened with losing his job if he did not wear a flammable mask under his welding mask.

Deven went on an unpaid leave for two months. His union has filed a grievance, which will take upwards of a year to be resolved. In Deven’s words, this essentially “starves us into compliance.” Comply, or you are out of work.

While Deven was off on unpaid leave, one of his students’ cloth masks actually caught on fire while he was in the welding shop. His students, most of whom are international, are afraid to push back against the mainstream narrative for fear of reprimand.

In addition to this, it appears that Deven has become one of the first mask by-law fine recipients. On November 14, London By-Law PH-20 was in effect, which outlined mask exemptions and also states: “Please be respectful of the rights of individuals who are exempt from wearing a mask in conformity with the exemptions provided in the By- law.”

Yet Deven recently found himself being forcibly removed from a local establishment for playing a game of pool… by himself.

The harassment and criminalization of mask-exempt individuals continues.

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