The Canadian government will soon launch a vaccine passport to facilitate international travel during the pandemic. The nationally standardized vaccine passport system will be implemented by all provincial and territorial governments.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on October 21 a technical briefing that all provinces and territories have confirmed their approval of a national standard of proof of vaccine. This briefing featured representatives from Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship (IRCC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), Transport Canada (TC), Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
If you were vaccinated in Canada, you will already have a province-issued vaccine passport. Therefore, rather than creating a federal database for vaccine information, the federal government has left the task to provincial governments to issue a standardized digital document with a watermark in the upper right-hand corner.
Why Is Proof of Vaccination Required?
The IRCC made it mandatory for all travelers over 12 years of age aboard federally regulated transportation to be fully vaccinated from October 30, 2021. This includes travelers departing from Canadian airports and on VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer Trains. This rule will have a 30 day transition period until November 30 to allow people to get fully vaccinated. During this period, travelers must present a negative Covid-19 test result no more than 72 hours before the scheduled departure to board any federally regulated transportation.
