Coming to campus in Canada?

Are you travelling soon to study in Canada? As we’ve written about for over one year, Canada has national rules, but also rules that exist in each of its 10 provinces and 3 territories. Sometimes there are different rules even in the same province as the covid-19 infection rate may be higher in one area and lower in another. But if you are preparing to come to Canada and especially if you are planning to live on campus, you need to pay attention to the rules in the campus you re going to and to keep checking what the rules are as these can change. A good example, as reported recently, by Canada’s CBC News is Saint Mary’s University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The province of Nova Scotia has had extraordinary success in limiting the impact of covid-19 throughout the pandemic. At times it has even controlled its borders to limit access to Canadian residents in other parts of the country. The following passages from this CBC article will help to show how a university can control what happens on its campus:

Saint Mary's University in Halifax announced Friday it will implement a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy this fall semester for some students and staff. The requirement will apply to students who live in residence as well as student athletes, in addition to staff and coaches who work in athletics programs.

The university will provide vaccination clinics on campus with the aim of making sure those students, staff and coaches are immunized by Oct. 15, at which point proof of vaccination will be required.

"We're looking around the landscape and we're all looking across the country and seeing the increase in COVID-19 cases across Canada, we're seeing the increase in the spread of the Delta variant," said Saint Mary's president Robert Summerby-Murray. "It's incumbent on us as an institution to ensure the health and safety of our community is protected in the best possible way."

Vaccinations will not be mandatory for other students or staff members when the fall term starts.

The pop-up vaccination clinics are expected to be set up within a few days of the beginning of the fall term on Sept. 1. The university will also offer daily asymptomatic rapid testing on campus and will continue to direct that masks be worn in all indoor spaces. There is also a daily check-in for faculty, staff, students and visitors to the school.

For the full article see:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/covid-vaccine-mandatory-saint-mary-s-university-1.6147563