COVID-19 vaccination mandates in Canada

COVID-19 vaccination mandates in Canada are the responsibility of provinces, territories, and municipalities, and in the case of federal public services and federally-regulated transportation industries, the federal government. COVID-19 vaccines are free in Canada through the public health care system. The federal government is responsible for procurement and distribution of the vaccines to provincial and territorial authorities; provincial and territorial governments are responsible for administering vaccinations to people in their respective jurisdictions.^[1] Mass vaccination efforts began across Canada on December 14, 2020. As the second vaccinations became more widely available in June 2021, Manitoba became the first province in Canada to offer a voluntary vaccine passport.^[2]

As Canada was emerging from the fourth wave in mid-August—which had been dominated by the highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant,^[3] governments at different levels were considering the use of vaccine mandates.

At the international level, Canada was in dialogue with other member nations of the Group of Seven, with the World Health Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization to discuss "proof of vaccination for international travel".^[4] These "reliable and secure" "proof of vaccination credentials"^[4] were often referred to as vaccine passports.

During this same period, at the domestic level an emerging "patchwork" system of vaccine mandates began to be introduced across Canada.^[5][6][7] In August 2021, a number of public and private entities nationwide began to consider implementing vaccination mandates.^{[8][9][10][11]}

With healthcare capacity spread "too thin" during the "rising fifth wave driven by the Omicron variant" in early January 2022, federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos suggested that provinces implement mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.^[12][13]

There have been protests against public health restrictions all across Canada. In early 2022, protests against mandates increasingly involved anti-government sentiments, with a blockade and occupation of Parliament Hill occurring in late January and lasting for nearly a month. The protest led to tens of millions in economic costs, including trade and supply chain interruptions, policing costs, business closures, and temporary lay-offs of over a thousand workers.^[14] In response, the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14 for the first time in Canadian history, giving police and other government agencies extraordinary powers to handle the ongoing protests.^[15][16]