Most provinces have committed to co-operating on Canada’s creation of a vaccine passport for international travellers, but health officials currently have no plans to utilize the document domestically.
However, as the country approaches a fourth wave of COVID-19, some businesses are already looking to use the travel pass to check customers’ inoculation status.
Minister of Immigration Marco Mendicino said Wednesday that fully immunized Canadians will be able to get the proof of vaccination document by early fall, and use it to facilitate entry into other countries.
The document will indicate which vaccines were received, as well as the date and the location of appointments. Provinces hold vaccination data for their residents, and most are on board with sharing it with the federal government for the creation of the travel pass. Only Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island have so far implemented a domestic version of a vaccine passport.
Alberta press secretary Jerrica Goodwin said the province is open to collaborating with Canada to create a travel pass and sharing vaccination data for residents who apply. However, Ms. Goodwin said Alberta won’t support the use of the international travel credential for uses within provincial borders. Premier Jason Kenney has repeatedly rejected the idea of reserving some activities to immunized residents.
Alberta reported 550 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the active case count up to 4,101. Deborah Yedlin, the president and chief executive of Calgary’s Chamber of Commerce, is lobbying for vaccine passports to be implemented in the province, and said the travel pass could double as a proof of vaccination for her member businesses. The province is set to remove most COVID-19 measures on Aug. 16, including routine contact tracing outside of high-risk settings and requiring those who test positive to isolate, which Ms. Yedlin said leaves businesses with no way of monitoring spread in their establishments.
“Without isolation requirements in place, we’re dealing blind,” she said.
Doug Appeldoorn, the owner of People’s Pint Brewing Company in Toronto, would like to restrict his establishment to immunized customers, but verifying everybody’s vaccination status has proven impossible.
He said he wishes Ontario would create a provincial passport, but said meanwhile he is strongly considering using the travel pass as a proof of vaccination to require entry into his business.
“If the federal government decides to do this, we’re all for it,” he said. “It just makes things easier for our staff. We can bring people inside again and not have to worry about whether or not they are vaccinated if they just show proof with a card, that solves a lot.”
Alex Hilkene, a spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Health Christine Elliott, said the province has been collaborating with the federal government on the travel pass.
The province has shown no intention to use the new federal pass for anything other than travel. Premier Doug Ford has spoken against a provincial vaccine passport, saying it could potentially create a “split society” within the province.
In British Columbia, Health Minister Adrian Dix said the province is in full support of a vaccine passport for international travel. He said B.C. is currently working toward making vaccine information accessible to the federal government while taking privacy considerations into account.
B.C. reported 513 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. Provincial Health Officer Bonnie Henry said the passports are important to help slow the spread. “Anything that encourages people to be immunized,” she said.
On Thursday the Quebec Ministry of Health said it was collaborating with the federal government on the new foreign-travel vaccination passport, two days after releasing details of its own domestic vaccine-passport system which will bar unvaccinated people in Quebec from many non-essential public places such as bars, restaurants and gyms.
Saskatchewan is also working with the federal government to create a passport that supports international travel, a spokesperson for the province’s Ministry of Health said. Like in B.C., there are no plans to implement a requirement to show proof of vaccination within Saskatchewan, but COVID-19 immunization records are available on MySaskHealthRecord, a provincial website.
Manitoba did not provide guidance on whether or not they will share provincial health data with the federal government, but spokesperson for Manitoba Health, Draper Houston, said the province is in regular discussions with them about the development of a proof of vaccination document for international travel.
Nova Scotia media relations adviser Kristen Lipscombe said the province is also in conversation with the federal government about its vaccine passport initiative, but was unclear about whether or not the province would collaborate with the government on the travel pass.
Usage of a vaccine passport has become an election issue in Nova Scotia, where Liberal Leader Iain Rankin says a re-elected Liberal government would bring in a COVID-19 vaccine passport system, which he called “a pro-active step to prevent a fourth wave.”
The pass would allow people to prove they’re fully vaccinated, and help businesses and other organizations limit access to their services, he said. Nova Scotians go to the polls Aug. 17.
-With files by Eric Andrew-Gee in Quebec, Laura Stone in Toronto and Greg Mercer in Nova Scotia
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