Canadian Government To ‘Suspend’ COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates For Federally Regulated Workers

Wednesday, June 15, 2022 at 7:13 AM

By Meg Polson

The Canadian government will “suspend” COVID-19 vaccine mandates for domestic and outbound international travelers and federally regulated workers.

The new rules will come into effect on June 20, though the requirements for foreign nationals coming to Canada will not change.

Several ministers lauded Canada’s high vaccination rate at a news conference to announce the changes, but Intergovernmental affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc warned the government is prepared to “bring back” necessary policies if there’s a resurgence of the virus in the fall.

Travel industry groups have blamed federal public health measures and mandates for slowdowns at airport customs that have contributed to long waits for passengers and forced flight delays and cancellations and have put increasing pressure on the government to do away with them.

LeBlanc says the decision to drop the federal mandate is not a response to the situation at Canada’s airports but rather is “based on science.”

The Public Health Agency of Canada has reported a steadily declining number of COVID-19 cases, though provinces are no longer providing COVID-19 molecular tests for the general public and federal reporting has become less regimented.

The government announced last week it would suspend random testing at airports for vaccinated travelers, with plans to move testing off-site by next month. But after that announcement, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable called on the government to go further and end vaccine mandates for travelers and staff at Canada’s airports.

The vaccine mandate will also be lifted for domestic travelers on passenger trains and buses, allowing unvaccinated Canadians to move more freely around the country, as well as federal workers who have been put on unpaid leave because of their vaccination status.