Ontario officials have released more guidance on the implementation of the province’s proof-of-vaccination system, which comes into effect on Sept. 22.
The vaccine certificate system will cover “higher-risk” indoor spaces where masks can’t be worn at all times, officials say. The province has amended its list to apply to the following settings:
Restaurants and bars (excluding outdoor patios, delivery and takeout).
Nightclubs, including outdoor areas.
Meeting and event spaces like banquet halls and convention centres.
Sports and fitness facilities and gyms, with the exception of youth recreational sports.
Sporting events.
Casinos, bingo halls and gaming establishments.
Concerts, music festivals, theatres and cinemas.
Strip clubs, bath houses and sex clubs.
Racing venues.
Indoor areas of waterparks.
Areas of commercial TV, where studio audiences will be treated as patrons who have to be fully vaccinated.
Businesses and organizations that fall under the list above will be required to cross-reference vaccination receipts with identification (including options like a driver’s licence, birth certificate or passport), and make sure the receipt shows any patron has been fully vaccinated for 14 days.
The government says provincial offences officers will be visiting businesses and organizations starting this week to raise awareness and understanding of the new requirements.
WATCH | New portions of province’s proof-of-vaccine system explained:
Ontario reveals new details on vaccine passport system
5 hours ago
Associate Minister of Digital Government Kaleed Rasheed said Ontarians can print or download proof-of-vaccine receipts from the province’s website, and that’s what patrons will have to show at the door of establishments. 1:48
Officials also say that if individuals or businesses don’t comply, they could be charged or fined.
Regarding enforcement of the vaccine certificates, Health Minister Christine Elliott said at a press conference Tuesday that the solicitor general has been in contact with police forces across the province, but it’s “up to each police force to ready themselves accordingly.”
Some exemptions exist
But officials say exemptions will be made in certain circumstances, including:
When a patron enters an indoor area solely to use a washroom, pay for an order or access an outdoor area that can only be accessed through an indoor route.
When a patron enters an indoor area to place or pick up an order (including placing a bet or picking up winnings at a horse racing track), to purchase admission, to make a retail purchase, and for the “necessary purposes of health and safety.”
Children under 12 years old.
Patrons under 18 years old who are entering the indoor premises of a recreational facility solely for the purpose of actively participating in an organized sport.
Weddings, funerals, rites or ceremonies, when the patron is not attending the associated social gathering (for example, the reception after a wedding ceremony).
Patrons with a written document from a physician or a nurse practitioner stating they are exempt for medical reasons.
When asked Tuesday about allowing unvaccinated patrons at a restaurant to enter an indoor space while paying a bill or going to the washroom, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said that circumstance is still not considered a high-risk contact.
The rules assume unvaccinated patrons will be masked and it’ll be 15 minutes or less spent indoors, he added.
Patrons must have vaccination receipt before Oct. 22
At first, fully vaccinated Ontarians will need their current vaccination receipt with a valid photo identification to enter places covered under the new system.
Those with a green photo OHIP card print or download their receipts from the provincial government website. Those with a red and white health card, meanwhile, can call the Provincial Vaccine Booking Line at 1-833-943-3900.
People who received their first or second dose out of province are being asked to contact their local public health unit to receive proper documentation.
More than 84 per cent of Ontarians eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine have now received one dose, while more than 78 per cent have received two doses. (Matt Rourke/The Associated Press)
The province says guidance for businesses will be updated before Oct. 22, when Ontario will shift to certificates that include QR codes containing much of the same information included on current vaccination receipts. Official medical exemptions for the vaccine will also be embedded in the QR code, Associate Minister of Digital Government Kaleed Rasheed said.
“If someone doesn’t want to use the QR code, then the ministry of health will look into issuing an exemption certificate, he said.
People can continue to use the print version after Oct. 22 if they so choose, he added. Businesses will be able to download a free app to scan and verify QR codes after that date.
“It will make it easier, more secure, and convenient to show you have been vaccinated when you need to,” he said.
“Your information will never be stored on our app, it will only show the minimum of information needed to confirm an individual has been fully vaccinated.”
Bylaw enforcement officers will be monitoring to make sure businesses conform to requirements, Elliott said.
Anyone at a business who is concerned about feeling threatened over entry should call 911, she added.
“We want to make sure everyone conforms to these rules, but if anyone feels threatened we have the facilities available for people to seek help,” Elliott said.
“I don’t anticipate demand will be huge, we’re asking people to be reasonable, we’ve let people know what the requirements are,” she said.
Rocco Rossi, the president and CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, said the business community has some unanswered questions regarding workplace guidance and protection of businesses.
“While we welcome further guidance provided by the province on its proof-of-vaccination framework, there are still outstanding concerns left unaddressed around workplace guidance and business protection,” Rossi said in a statement.
The chamber is specifically asking for clarity around immunization of employees, protection for businesses from potential lawsuits and other legal consequences, and if small businesses will receive supports to hire additional staff to implement the new framework.
To date, the province says it has administered more than 30,000 third doses.
Groups that will be offered a third vaccine include people undergoing active treatment for solid tumours and those who are in receipt of a solid-organ transplant and taking immunosuppressive therapy.
Patients in ICUwith COVID-related illnesses: 192, with 119 needing a ventilator to breathe.
Deaths: seven, pushing the official toll to 9,624.
Vaccinations: 28,657 vaccine doses were administered in Ontario yesterday — nearly double Sunday’s total. More than 84 per cent of Ontarians eligible for a vaccine have now received one dose, while more than 78 per cent have received two doses.
MONTREAL – The employers association at the Port of Montreal has issued the dockworkers’ union a “final, comprehensive offer,” threatening to lock out workers at 9 p.m. Sunday if a deal isn’t reached.
The Maritime Employers Association says its new offer includes a three per cent salary increase per year for four years and a 3.5 per cent increase for the two subsequent years. It says the offer would bring the total average compensation package of a longshore worker at the Port of Montreal to more than $200,000 per year at the end of the contract.
“The MEA agrees to this significant compensation increase in view of the availability required from its employees,” it wrote Thursday evening in a news release.
The association added that it is asking longshore workers to provide at least one hour’s notice when they will be absent from a shift — instead of one minute — to help reduce management issues “which have a major effect on daily operations.”
Syndicat des débardeurs du port de Montréal, which represents nearly 1,200 longshore workers, launched a partial unlimited strike on Oct. 31, which has paralyzed two terminals that represent 40 per cent of the port’s total container handling capacity.
A complete strike on overtime, affecting the whole port, began on Oct. 10.
The union has said it will accept the same increases that were granted to its counterparts in Halifax or Vancouver — 20 per cent over four years. It is also concerned with scheduling and work-life balance. Workers have been without a collective agreement since Dec. 31, 2023.
Only essential services and activities unrelated to longshoring will continue at the port after 9 p.m. Sunday in the event of a lockout, the employer said.
The ongoing dispute has had major impacts at Canada’s second-biggest port, which moves some $400 million in goods every day.
On Thursday, Montreal port authority CEO Julie Gascon reiterated her call for federal intervention to end the dispute, which has left all container handling capacity at international terminals at “a standstill.”
“I believe that the best agreements are negotiated at the table,” she said in a news release. “But let’s face it, there are no negotiations, and the government must act by offering both sides a path to true industrial peace.”
Federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement Thursday, prior to the lockout notice, in which he criticized the slow pace of talks at the ports in Montreal and British Columbia, where more than 700 unionized port workers have been locked out since Nov. 4.
“Both sets of talks are progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved,” he wrote on the X social media platform.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Employers and the union representing supervisors embroiled in a labour dispute that triggered a lockout at British Columbia’s ports will attempt to reach a deal when talks restart this weekend.
A spokesman from the office of federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has confirmed the minister spoke with leaders at both the BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514, but did not invoke any section of the Canadian Labour Code that would force them back to talks.
A statement from the ministry says MacKinnon instead “asked them to return to the negotiation table,” and talks are now scheduled to start on Saturday with the help of federal mediators.
A meeting notice obtained by The Canadian Press shows talks beginning in Vancouver at 5 p.m. and extendable into Sunday and Monday, if necessary.
The lockout at B.C. ports by employers began on Monday after what their association describes as “strike activity” from the union. The result was a paralysis of container cargo traffic at terminals across Canada’s west coast.
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint against the employers for allegedly bargaining in bad faith, a charge that employers call a “meritless claim.”
The two sides have been without a deal since March 2023, and the employers say its final offer presented last week in the last round of talks remains on the table.
The proposed agreement includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term along with an average lump sum payment of $21,000 per qualified worker.
The union has said one of its key concerns is the advent of port automation in cargo operations, and workers want assurances on staffing levels regardless of what technology is being used at the port.
The disruption is happening while two container terminals are shut down in Montreal in a separate labour dispute.
It leaves container cargo traffic disrupted at Canada’s two biggest ports, Vancouver and Montreal, both operating as major Canadian trade gateways on the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
This is one of several work disruptions at the Port of Vancouver, where a 13-day strike stopped cargo last year, while labour strife in the rail and grain-handling sectors led to further disruptions earlier this year.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
