Canada is working on vaccine passports for international travel.
The announcement Wednesday comes after Quebec made it known that they will be implementing a vaccine passport program beginning Sept. 1.
The international passport will be available to all Canadian citizens, temporary citizens, and permanent residents in Canada if they are fully vaccinated.
In a statement released by the federal government, Canadians should continue to avoid any non-essential travel worldwide, but stressed that vaccination credentials will support the re-opening of societies and economies.
“Our ambition is to see the next iteration of a proof of vaccine credential program launched as early as early Fall,” explains Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. “This is building on the success of the first stage of the proof of vaccine credential program which we’ve launched successfully through the ArriveCAN app, which helps to inform inbound travel for Canadians and it is something that has worked very well. The fact is that we understand this will be an important piece to the puzzle.”
It appears the passport will be consistent between provinces and territories, though there is much to consider.
Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc explains there will be many moving parts in working with all the provinces and territories.
“It’s a complex undertaking because it necessarily involves the government of Canada working with every province and territory, they are properly the owners of the data in terms of who in their jurisdictions have been immunized,” says LeBlanc. “We have been having ongoing and very collaborative constructive conversations with the provinces and territories to ensure we can safely receive from them the necessary information on which Canadians are immunized.”
