GATINEAU, Quebec (LifeSiteNews) – Canada’s Minister of Labour under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government announced that the federal government is imposing a vaccine mandate for all workers in federally regulated industries.
On December 7, Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan Jr. announced that the government will propose regulations under Part II of the Canada Labour Code to make vaccination mandatory in federally regulated workplaces by early 2022. Included in the list of federally regulated industries are interprovincial air, rail, road, and marine transportation, pipelines, banks, postal and courier services, and telecommunications services.
“Canada has led the world on vaccination rates thanks to Canadians, their belief in science, and their willingness to roll up their sleeves. Making vaccination mandatory across all federally regulated workplaces will protect workers, their families, and their communities. It will help us finish the fight against COVID-19 and help us sustain a strong and stable economic recovery,” O’Regan stated in the release.
“Vaccinations are one of the strongest tools we have in the fight against COVID-19 and in keeping Canadians safe and healthy. Through these requirements, we help add an extra layer of protection in federally regulated workplaces. I encourage Canadians who have not yet received a vaccine to book their shot today,” Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said.
According to the announcement, the “government will consult with key stakeholders, including representatives of small and medium-sized employers, as it works expeditiously to finalize the new regulations” and “will also develop resources to help federally regulated workplaces implement the COVID-19 vaccination requirements in consultation with their workplace health and safety committees or representatives.”
Despite the heavy-handed approach for the majority of Canadians, the government added, “In recognition of Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination and self-government,” certain organizations such as “Indigenous Governing Bodies and First Nation Band Councils will be exempted from the new requirements.”
This new and sweeping mandates are just one of the many steps the Trudeau government has taken in the fight against the so-called COVID pandemic.
Just over a week ago, Trudeau’s policy barring all unvaccinated Canadians from domestic and international flights, as well as train and sea travel, took effect.
Further, in October, Trudeau had already mandated “all federal public servants in the Core Public Administration (CPA), including members and reservists of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) must be vaccinated against COVID-19,” regardless if they are “teleworking, working remotely or working on-site.”
In response to Trudeau’s measures, Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Marty Moore previously told LifeSiteNews, “The Justice Centre has consistently argued that based the scientific data, vaccine mandates are unjustified violations of Canadians’ constitutional right to choose what to inject — or not inject — into their own bodies.”
“Government claims that mandatory vaccination is necessary to stop transmission are undermined by the fact that vaccinated individuals can still contract and transmit covid and by data showing that unvaccinated individuals who have recovered from Covid have superior protection than vaccinated persons,” the lawyer continued. “Federal or provincial governments that continue to ignore this information will have to answer it in court, where judges are required to determine whether in fact the governments’ restriction of Charter rights is ‘demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.’”