Challengers to the now-defunct travel vaccine mandate have filed their arguments in Federal Court to appeal an October decision that dismissed their cases on the grounds of mootness. “The federal government’s threat to reinstate the travel mandate should have been the deciding factor for the Federal Court to hear this case,” says Allison Pejovic, a…

In court on Sept. 21, a lawyer from Quebec representing himself tried to fend off an attempt by the attorney general to declare moot his lawsuit against the travel vaccine mandate, saying Canadians have the “inalienable” right to leave the country. “I live with the daily worry to be again confined to Canada without being…

A lawyer representing two applicants challenging the federal travel vaccine mandate told an Ottawa courtroom on Sept. 21 that the issue isn’t moot—as the attorney general has previously argued in court—since the federal government could bring back the measure at any time. “Mandates are not a relic of the pandemic past,” said lawyer Sam Presvelos,…

Challengers to the travel vaccine mandate will tell a federal court judge on Sept. 21 their cases should go ahead and not be declared “moot” as argued by the attorney general. “Canada was one of the few countries in the world that had a travel ban on unvaccinated citizens flying within the country and to…

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not confirm nor deny whether he’s about to lift much of the remaining federal COVID-19 restrictions after several media reports predicted as much in recent days. “Every step of the way through this pandemic we’ve been guided by evidence, by facts, by the best counsel of experts—international and across Canada—with…

The power to grant religious exemptions from the travel vaccine mandate that the federal government delegated to air carriers was described by Air Canada as “illegal” and “constitutionally flawed” and led to broad discrepancies on how unvaccinated travellers were treated by different airlines, internal documents reveal. And although Transport Canada left it up to carriers…

A senior official at Transport Canada expressed doubts about the rationale for a vaccine mandate for transportation 13 days before it came into force, and had asked Health Canada for more data to justify the policy, internal emails reveal. “To the extent that updated data exist or that there is clearer evidence of the safety…

The federal government predicted there would be a backlash to its “strict” COVID-19 vaccine mandate as “sympathetic/vulnerable” Canadians would be denied travel, an internal document shows. A briefing delivered to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra on Oct. 2, 2021, laid out the main aspects of the travel vaccine mandate policy that would come into force on…

Preventing the unvaccinated from taking long-distance public transportation was used as a means to increase vaccination rates, Transport Canada internal documents reveal. A briefing presented to Transport Minister Omar Alghabra on Oct. 2, 2021, regarding the implementation of the mandate said the strict requirement for vaccination without the alternative to present a negative COVID-19 test…

Challengers to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for travel are pleading for their case to be heard in court after the Attorney-General submitted a motion to dismiss their applications on the grounds of mootness, since the mandate was suspended on June 20. Attorney Keith Wilson, affiliated with the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) and representing…