OTTAWA, Ontario, June 1, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — The Prime Minister of Canada’s office has claimed that a “broad consensus” has been reached among the nation’s premiers working to create “a proof of vaccine credential” system for travel.
“A broad consensus emerged out of the discussion between First Ministers on collaborative efforts to develop a proof of vaccine credential to enable international travel based on sound principles, including respect for provincial and territorial jurisdiction and privacy of health information,” said a news release based on a callout of a meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the nation’s premiers held last Thursday.
Allison Kindle Pejovic, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told LifeSiteNews that the Trudeau office’s statement is “concerning,” as it does not provide the public with confidence that “travel restrictions and potentially other lockdown measures will be lifted without a vaccine passport system in place.”
“Canadians have a Charter-protected mobility right to enter and leave the country, which is not subject to any qualification that Canadians undergo invasive medical procedures,” said Kindle Pejovic.
The meeting with Trudeau and the premiers included Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, as well as Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Dr. Theresa Tam. It mostly focused on Canada’s COVID-19 response, but Trudeau stated that Canada could be “fully vaccinated by September.”
Meeting notes also indicate that the First Ministers “looked to the future and discussed how to safely reopen the economy,” as more Canadians “get vaccinated.”
“Highlighting the reopening plans that many provinces and territories have released, the Prime Minister and premiers spoke about next steps to ensure Canada is prepared to adjust border measures when it is safe to do so,” reads the news release.
In Canada, health is under the full authority of the provinces, meaning any such national “vaccine passport” program would need the buy-in of all provinces.
Canada’s Liberal government under Trudeau has to date not said with certainty one way or another whether it will implement a national COVID-19 “vaccine passport” system in Canada.
Trudeau’s latest remarks from the First Ministers meeting, however, is a sign that his government is one step closer to implementing some form of a “vaccine passport” for Canadians.
“Such a requirement would be wholly unnecessary, totalitarian, and not in accordance with a free society,” Kindle Pejovic countered.
In late February, Trudeau said that there were “pros and cons” to COVID-19 “immunity passports.”
In early March, Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu said the government is “certainly working on the idea of vaccine passports” with its fellow G7 partners.
In late April, Trudeau said his government was working on “certificates of vaccination” for travel with its allies, saying they are to be “expected.”
Thus far, no premier in Canada, including Conservative ones in Alberta, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, have publicly spoken out against the idea of so called “vaccine passports.”
“Vaccine passports” are a “blatant violation of one’s personal autonomy”
In speaking with LifeSiteNews, JCCF lawyer Kindle Pejovic said that any requirement of a “vaccine passport” to allow Canadians to travel is a “blatant” infringement of one’s personal sovereignty.
“The requirement to have a vaccine passport to travel or to engage in other Charter-protected activities such as gathering or associating with others is a blatant violation of one’s personal autonomy that is not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice,” said Kindle Pejovic. “It is also a worrisome violation of Canadians’ Charter-protected privacy rights.”
Currently, no Canadian province has implemented any type of “vaccine passport,” however, some have apparently started the process of rolling programs out.
In early May, LifeSiteNews reported that the Canadian province of Manitoba under its Conservative Premier Brian Pallister may be looking into creating a type of COVID-19 vaccine record card enabled by QR code, which could be used as a sort of digital “vaccine passport,” according to a source who works with the government.
In May, as well, the province of Quebec began to send as “electronic proof” a vaccination confirmation in the form of a QR code to those who had received a COVID-19 jab.
In April, the JCCF released a powerful video highlighting concerns surrounding COVID-19 “vaccine passports,” and the mandatory vaccinations being touted by some provincial governments.
Canada has in place one of the most oppressive travel quarantine requirements in the world. The rules mandate that all travelers entering the country by air stay at a government approved COVID-19 site for three days upon arrival — at their own expense.
The three-day stay is mandated even if someone produces a negative COVID-19 test before boarding their flight from the place of origin. Producing a negative COVID-19 test as a condition of being allowed to board a plane bound for Canada has been mandatory since January.
Travelers are also mandated to take another test upon arrival, despite the questionable accuracy of PCR tests.
Crossing Canada’s border has been severely limited for well over a year to what is deemed non-essential travel. Bans to specific countries and regions (India and Pakistan) are in place until at least June 21.
As it stands, the border between Canada and the United States could fully open by the end of June. However, Trudeau recently said he is not in a hurry to re-open the border to non-essential travel. He also stated that at least 75 percent of Canadians would need to take a COVID-19 jab before the border would re-open.
Health Canada has authorized four COVID-19 injections for adults, all with connections to abortion. All of them have been associated with severe side-effects such as blood clots, rashes, miscarriages, and even heart attacks in young healthy men.
In Canada, vaccines are not mandatory at the federal level. Some provinces — such as Ontario and New Brunswick — have made certain vaccines mandatory via legislation, with a few exceptions, for children to attend public schools.
The idea of a so called “vaccine passport” has been blasted by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). The group said it has “flashed red and yellow lights at any effort by a Canadian government to mandate public disclosure of private health care information.”