Ontario health minister promises ‘immunity passport’ for COVID vaccine recipients
Christine Elliott declared that she expects people to need proof of COVID immunity to travel and work. Fri Dec 18, 2020 – 9:24 pm EST
By Anthony Murdoch
ONTARIO, December 18, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — The health minister of Ontario reaffirmed once again that residents of Canada’s most populous province will need “for lots of reasons” a yet to be determined type of proof that they received the COVID-19 vaccine.
“People will receive a confirmation of the vaccination when they receive their first dose. They will get a receipt indicating that they’ve had their first dose. When they get the second dose, they will receive confirmation. We are just finalizing the format it’s going to take,” said Ontario’s health minister, Christine Elliott, to reporters Thursday, while taking questions after an announcement for new mental health funding.
Elliott added that after a person has received his second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, the government will issue him something “more substantive” than a simple receipt that he had the shot.
“This is something that we’ve planned for all along, and we know that many people are going to need that confirmation for a whole variety of reasons — travel, work-related, and other reasons,” said Elliott.
“People will receive a receipt when they receive the first dose, and then, upon the second dose, when it’s been completed, they will receive something more substantive, as I said, because many people are going to need it for lots of reasons.”
There are questions as to whether a vaccine “immunity passport” would violate the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in particular Section 2, which involves one’s conscience rights; Section 6 regarding mobility rights; and Section 7, which protects one’s “right to life, liberty and security of the person.” SUBSCRIBE to LifeSite’s daily headlines U.S. Canada World Catholic
Lisa Bildy, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told LifeSiteNews that for a government to “threaten or mandate liberty restrictions” against Canadians who do not want a COVID-19 vaccine is indeed a violation of one’s charter rights.
“The government should make the Covid-19 vaccine available to all Canadians who want it, starting with those who are the most vulnerable. That should be the end of their involvement in the personal health decisions of Canadians,” Bildy told LifeSiteNews.
“To do otherwise, and particularly to threaten or mandate liberty restrictions on Canadians who make the perfectly reasonable assessment that they do not need or want such a vaccine, is a violation of the rights to freedom of conscience and belief, mobility rights, and the right to life, liberty and security of the person under the Charter. If there’s no solid data on transmission, then there is simply no rational basis for the infringement of these rights.”
Ontario premier Doug Ford said he will not make a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory in Ontario but will urge people to take it.