OTTAWA — The government has issued an order-in-council clarifying that truckers are not exempt from a vaccine mandate after bureaucrats were confused by their own policy.
The Canada Border Services Agency created widespread confusion last month after it issued a statement to media saying that unvaccinated truckers would remain exempt from quarantine and testing requirements after entering the country at the Canada-U.S. border.
The federal government said the next day the statement had been sent in error, but not before some unvaccinated big-riggers had already been dispatched across the border.
The Canadian Press later revealed the confusion stemmed from bureaucrats misinterpreting policy at both the border services agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada, including whether an order-in-council, which sets out decisions made by cabinet, covered truckers or not.
The government has now issued an order-in-council to clarify that unvaccinated and partially vaccinated truckers are not exempt from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate when entering Canada, except if they are delivering "medically necessary" supplies and equipment.
The order also says that residents of the French territory of St-Pierre-Miquelon, which are islands south of Newfoundland and Labrador, will be exempt from vaccine mandates if travelling to Canada for medical care — except for COVID-19 — within four days of arrival.
The public health agency said the order would be in effect until at least the end of February. Orders-in-council have been renewed month to month since the beginning of the pandemic.
"On Jan. 31, 2022, the Government of Canada extended the majority of its existing border measures and made updates to a few others," the agency said in a statement.
A summary of the order-in-council makes clear that "unvaccinated operators of a commercial vehicle, unless delivering medically necessary supplies, equipment, or devices, are not exempt from the requirement to obtain a pre-arrival COVID-19 test and will be subject to the requirement to quarantine and to undergo COVID-19 molecular testing in Canada."
The statement added that residents of St-Pierre-Miquelon will be exempt from quarantine and arrival testing to "respect international medical treaty obligations in light of decreased flight availability to and from Newfoundland."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked last month at a news conference to explain the misinformation that was released about unvaccinated truckers crossing the border, and said there was "miscommunication from an official."
But The Canadian Press learned it went beyond just one official and even one department.
The Public Health Agency of Canada, which co-ordinates Canada's response to the COVID-19 epidemic, prepared its own statement saying truckers would be exempt from the mandate on the same day as the border agency's.
The public health agency was also in contact with the border agency before it issued its statement, according to several government sources with direct knowledge of what happened behind the scenes. The statement was later corrected.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2022.
Marie Woolf, The Canadian Press
