Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
National

More details of travel vaccine mandate announced

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 29 Oct, 2021 02:27 PM
  • More details of travel vaccine mandate announced

TORONTO - Fly-in communities will be exempt from a federal requirement that air passengers be vaccinated against COVID-19, Canada's transport minister said Friday, a day before the mandate comes into effect.

Residents who leave their remote communities to access essential services need not be vaccinated to board a plane, Omar Alghabra told a news conference outside Toronto International Pearson Airport.

"We are putting in place some exceptions with guardrails and with measures, as well, to protect the health and safety of everyone," he said. "But again, those are communities that have very little if no access to the outside world, other than travelling by plane."

Ottawa said earlier this month that it was eyeing exceptions for 182 communities that Transport Canada or the provinces and territories have deemed "remote" and largely inaccessible by car.

Alghabra said the government consulted with First Nations, provinces and territories to develop the exemption.

Alghabra also announced a months-long grace period for unvaccinated foreign nationals hoping to leave the country without getting their shots.

They'll have until Feb. 28 to board a plane or boat leaving Canada with only a negative COVID-19 test if they choose to remain unvaccinated.

After that, he said, they'll be subject to the same requirements as everyone else.

There's a similar grace period for other unvaccinated Canadians, when they can travel with just a negative molecular test result for COVID-19, but it lasts only until Nov. 29.

"We know that Canadians who have not been vaccinated are now thinking about getting vaccinated and hopefully they will go out and get vaccinated, so they will be required to get tested prior to departure," Alghabra said.

He noted that the testing mandate is still a step up from existing policies for domestic air travel, which require neither a vaccine nor a negative test.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first announced in August that all travellers by plane, boat or interprovincial train would need to be vaccinated, and the pledge became a pillar of his successful re-election campaign.

Alghabra said the mandate will help protect workers and travellers alike.

 

MORE National ARTICLES

Former Surrey teacher who killed pregnant wife granted unescorted leave to visit family

Former Surrey teacher who killed pregnant wife granted unescorted leave to visit family
In October 2006, Mukhtiar Panghali killed his wife Manjit through strangulation. As the investigation progressed, Manjit's burned body was found at a Delta beach. At the time of the killing Manjit was 31. Panghali was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years.

Former Surrey teacher who killed pregnant wife granted unescorted leave to visit family

VPD arrests West End bike thieves

VPD arrests West End bike thieves
In the early hours of October 25, several suspects broke into an apartment building near Nelson and Bidwell streets, using tools and suction cups to quietly remove the glass to gain entry. They then removed several bikes that were being stored inside the building.

VPD arrests West End bike thieves

Send help for Afghan refugees: ambassador

Send help for Afghan refugees: ambassador
Afghanistan’s ambassador is urging the Canadian government to send officials to bordering countries such as Pakistan to help refugees fleeing the Taliban get to Canada.    

Send help for Afghan refugees: ambassador

New top judges embraces 'belief in pluralism'

New top judges embraces 'belief in pluralism'
Justice Mahmud Jamal says that means faith in the inherent value of the diversity of nationalities, ethnicities, religions, languages, legal systems and perspectives that exemplify what it means to be Canadian.

New top judges embraces 'belief in pluralism'

Two charged - 2020 investigation of edibles in Halloween bags

Two charged - 2020 investigation of edibles in Halloween bags
Police say they had been unable to pinpoint the home where the drugs were handed out at the time of the complaint, but an investigator kept note of the distinctive cartoon logo on the packaging.

Two charged - 2020 investigation of edibles in Halloween bags

Killings may be linked to hospital attack: police

Killings may be linked to hospital attack: police
RCMP say they found a 73-year-old woman dead in the Rural Municipality of Hanover yesterday and had information a suspect was headed to Winnipeg. A short time later, police responded to a report of a stabbing at the Seven Oaks General Hospital, where a woman in her 60s who works at the hospital was found seriously injured.

Killings may be linked to hospital attack: police