Canada reaffirms travel restrictions against unvaccinated
While most of the world is eliminating its restrictions on the unvaccinated population, Canada's federal Liberals along with the NDP and BQ parties voted in favor of maintaining the discriminatory policy.
The opposition Conservative Party introduced a motion calling on the government "to immediately revert back to pre-pandemic rules and service levels for travel.” That motion failed by a vote of 202 to 117.
About four million Canadians representing 13% of the eligible population have not been “fully vaccinated”. As a result they are still prohibited from flying on commercial aircraft, traveling by train, and by ship. The restriction covers both domestic and international travel. Since the US does not permit entry to unvaccinated non- U.S. citizens, Canadians who chose not to get injected have no way of leaving their country other than by private jet, boat, or by swimming across the ocean.
Scientific Basis
The ruling Liberals have said that they intend to keep the restrictions in place as part of their plan to combat the spread of COVID. This is despite all the scientific evidence showing that the vaccine does not reduce the spread of COVID, and with more and more data showing that the vaccinated are getting infected at higher rates than the unvaccinated.
One study, for example, showed that after 91-150 days from vaccination the "vaccine effectiveness [is] -76.5% for Pfizer, -39.3% for Moderna."
If anything, the current science would support restricting the vaccinated from public places in order to reduce the spread of COVID.
Even if the vaccine did not increase COVID infections, virus transmission on flights was found to be extremely rare prior to the vaccine's rollout. Two U.S. studies, one from Harvard and the other from the U.S. Department of Defense support this claim.
Canada's own Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam, said, "There have been very few reports, extremely rare reports, actually, of transmission aboard aircraft."
Fundamental rights
Restricting Canadians' ability to travel conflicts with section 6 of the Charter of Rights, which states that "Every citizen of Canada has the right to enter, remain in and leave Canada." The travel ban breaches this and other constitutional protections unless it can be shown to be "reasonable and demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms along with former Newfoundland Premier, Brian Peckford, the only surviving signatory to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, are challenging the travel bans in the Canadian courts on a few points, including – that the restrictions are neither "reasonable," nor "justified," and certainly not in a "free and democratic society." A hearing in Federal Court has been set for September 2022.
“Our experts confirm that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated spread COVID. This means the government’s rationale for the ban on air travel is fatally flawed and there is no justification for the serious infringement on Canadians’ Charter rights,” notes Mr. Wilson lead counsel on the case for the Justice Centre.
“Canada is the only country in the developed world that bans unvaccinated citizens from air travel,” and that “Canada’s ban on unvaccinated flying is especially egregious given Canada is the second-largest country in the world by landmass and Canadians have a far greater need to use air travel for work, family and health reasons than do the citizens of most other countries.”
Mr Bernier, leader of the People's Party of Canada, said, “Not only am I prevented from travelling easily across the country and doing my job properly as a federal party leader, but millions of Canadians from all walks of life are prevented from leading normal lives with this travel ban. It’s a clear violation of our basic rights to mobility, and I hope the court will strike it down.”
