Canada loosens vax requirements, but not for cross-border truckers

A loosening of Canadian Covid-19 vaccination requirements will not apply to cross-border truckers, the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) has confirmed. On June 14, the federal government announced an end to vaccine requirements for federally regulated businesses other than trucking, including for most domestic and international air travelers. Canadians who leave the country will still be required to adhere to other countries' vaccination requirements, including those in in the U.S. that keep unvaccinated Canadian truckers from crossing the border.

Canada will also keep its border closed to unvaccinated truckers.

(Photo: iStock)

The border vaccination mandate has been in effect in both the U.S. and Canada since January 2022. "The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) is reminding members that any future removal of the land border vaccination mandate remains a bilateral decision, and the alliance continues to work with officials on both sides of the border on this policy," CTA said in a release. The feds also announced they will not proceed with planned regulations requiring vaccination requirements in all federally regulated workplaces.

Trucking was exempted from those requirements in the summer of 2021, although the federal government had initially announced plans to include federally regulated truck drivers in early 2022. "The mandatory vaccination requirement successfully mitigated the full impact of Covid-19 for travelers and workers in the transportation sector and provided broader protection to our communities," federal transport minister Omar Alghabra said in a related release.   "Suspending this requirement is possible thanks to the tens of millions of Canadians who did the right thing: they stepped up, rolled up their sleeves, and got vaccinated.

This action will support Canada's transportation system as we recover from the pandemic."