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Grand Forks conservation officer steps up to buy groceries for quarantined snowbirds from Kitimat

‘In these times of need, when people in the community need something like that done, it’s a no-brainer’
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BC Conservation Officer Kyle Bueckert of Grand Forks saw that a self-isolated couple needed help with food and stepped in to buy them groceries. (BC Conservation Officer Service/Facebook)

Conservation officer Kyle Bueckert is used to getting animals untangled from soccer nets in Grand Forks and patrolling local wild lands. But recently, in his off-time, he’s also stepped up to help support a B.C. couple stranded in quarantine.

According to the BC Conservation Officer Service (COS), Bueckert heard that an elderly snowbird couple from Kitimat, B.C., had just returned back to B.C. from the United States and were stopped just north of the border in Christina Lake to self-isolate before continuing their journey north.

As part of public health measures implemented by government officials to curb the spread of COVID-19, anyone entering Canada from another country must to self-isolate for 14 days immediately upon entering Canada, under the federal Quarantine Act.

As of April 9, travellers must now also present a self-isolation plan to B.C. and federal officials before being granted entry into the province. If plans are not approved, people will be placed in quarantine at facilites provided by the government.

Though the Kitimat couple arrived in Canada before the April 9 order, they still took it upon themselves to stick to themselves for the two-week period. But when shopping lists and money attached to broom handles waved from their camper failed to draw help, and with food running low, Bueckert stepped in to buy the couple their groceries.

“In these times of need, when people in the community need something like that done, it’s a no-brainer,” Bueckert told the COS. “You need to step up and help people.”

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