City of Iqaluit implementing vaccine mandate next month

Anyone entering a city facility will need to have 2 doses of a Health Canada approved COVID-19 vaccine

The City of Iqaluit’s vaccine mandate will soon require anyone 12 and over to show proof they have two doses of a Health Canada approved vaccine to enter a city building. (File photo)

By David Lochead

Iqaluit residents aged 12 and over will need to be fully vaccinated if they want to access city facilities as the city is implementing a vaccine mandate that begins on Feb. 7.

“We are very committed to making sure that we have healthy and safe spaces for the individuals in the community to participate in,” said City of Iqaluit spokesperson Stephanie Clark.

There are two other reasons for implementing the mandate, Clark said.

City council requested the vaccine mandate, and the city wants to protect staff who work in critical roles from getting COVID-19.

Fully vaccinated is defined by having two doses of a Health Canada approved vaccine.

City staff will also be required to be fully vaccinated.

Clark said Feb. 7 start date will give people who don’t have it yet the time to get a second dose, plus two weeks to build up immunity.

By March 31, the rule will be expanded to include people aged five years and older.

City facilities include any recreational facilities like the aquatic centre or the arenas, as well as any building where the city has a presence, Clark said.

The city will not keep anyone’s vaccination information on file, states a news release about the mandate.

There is no requirement to get a booster shot, but the release states the city recommends people to get a booster, as it’s shown to reduce the transmission and impact of COVID-19.

As of Monday, there were eight active cases of COVID-19 in Iqaluit and 151 across Nunavut.

As well, the Government of Nunavut eased public health measures from a full lockdown on Monday, meaning that facilities such as gyms and arenas can open to 25 per cent capacity or 25 people, whichever is less.

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(15) Comments:

  1. Posted by still here on

    Does this mean City Staff and Contractors are all 100 percent vaccinated?

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    • Posted by Northern Guy on

      reread the article its right there in black and white

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  2. Posted by Children First on

    Children are the biggest losers of this pandemic.

    Penalizing a child for his parents decision just seems absurd. A 5yo has no say in his vaccine status.

    How will daycares and schools deal with this when they go skating/swimming?

    The city should focus on giving fuel-free water to its residents.

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    • Posted by ashevak on

      read the article – it states anyone 12 and over.

      • Posted by Iqaluit on

        Read the article again… By March 31, the rule will be expanded to include people aged five years and older.

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  3. Posted by Just Wondering on

    Has Kenny Bell been silenced? City of Iqaluit spokesperson ?

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  4. Posted by Andre on

    Let them so the people will know uts the vaccinated people making people sick

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    • Posted by Red Bear on

      Log off facebook for a while buddy.

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  5. Posted by Bud McGee on

    Omicron has shown that the current products Pfizer, Moderna, etc. do not stop transmission of the virus. The idea of the mandate is not based on public health, it’s a political statement – an exercise in virtue-signalling. There are so many examples of highly vaccinated countries in the world having their highest COVID case counts to date because of omicron. Look up the COVID Case Count charts for Gibraltar, which is 140% vaccinated. Look up Israel, which is on its 4th dose. A renowned immunology professor in Israel called the vaccine passport a resounding failure at combating transmission, but it did convince people to get a shot. The UK government axed the whole vaccine passport system today. It has been an utter failure in pubic health policy. Remember folks, you can’t fly if you’re not vaccinated. Omicron was brought to Canada by a vaccinated passenger.

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    • Posted by anon on

      a) COVID vaccination doesn’t and was never supposed to prevent transmission, the purpose is to reduce severity of COVID if you are infected

      b) Gibraltar’s population is about the same as NU in a space about the size of the city of Iqaluit.

      c) Citation needed for the rest of your foolishness.

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      • Posted by Hai? on

        This is exactly why a vaccine mandate is not justified by science. Why force everyone to get it if the only benefit is to the individual? This should be a personal health decision. We were told in the beginning that we need to do this for our community, for our elders. So the whole “this vaccine will prevent transmission” thing was used to get people vaccinated and this is ok because we didn’t know as much back then. But new evidence suggests that a mandate will not protect the community so for that reason a mandate and the violation of rights of a minority group is no longer justified. Yet the push for vaccine mandates continues! Most of the initially hesitant people I know got it to protect others and got it so they can travel and have certain freedoms of livelihood (going to restaurants, gyms, theatres, playing sports, etc.) – not so much for their own health. There’s also the people who did it out of fear and these are the ones that are full of fear to this day, even though they are vaccinated and boosted (some boosted again) and waiting for the next booster. The other reason these mandates aren’t justified is because the majority of people who get it are fine, many are asymptomatic and many have mild symptoms. So yes, the vulnerable need to be protected but it should be optional for healthy people with no underlying conditions or high risk behaviours. And it is well known that you can’t eradicate or eliminate a respiratory virus with an animal reservoir so universal vaccination (100% vaccination) will not be worth it because the virus will continue to circulate. This is the science so I agree that these decisions to mandate are based on something else…politics, religion, whatever…but not science or public health.

        • Posted by I’m a disease and I just want to be free on

          Hi, Polio here. Vaccine mandates are bad. I have rights too!

  6. Posted by Rollout plan on

    How are they going to enforce this in any meaningful way? What are they going to use as proof, the first GN cards that were handed out? The new paper codes public health handed out? Phone apps? Are the front line staff going to be responsible for dealing with angry antivaxxers or people angry they forgot there proof? Who deals with enforcement? By-Law or the RCMP?
    It seems like it is going to be a giant pain for not much gain. These measures are not going to change the minds of people who refused to get vaccinated, it’s just going to get them all worked up and draw their kids into the middle of it.
    It’s going to get messy, cost a lot of money and make no difference in the end.

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  7. Posted by City does the right thing on

    Vaccine mandates are good because they encourage people to get vaccinated. Which is important because I don’t want my kids, my parents, or myself to die from this disease.

    Antivaxxers can go and get themselves killed by this disease if they want. Just do it away from me and my family.

  8. Posted by SFU Study on

    A recent look at the Canadian evidence found that the mere announcement of vaccine mandates last fall led to an average 66-per-cent surge in new, first-dose vaccinations in Canadian provinces. By contrast, offering people financial rewards for getting immunized does not seem to have much impact. The value of vaccine mandates is a no-brainer.

    https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/vaccine-mandates-increased-uptake-of-covid-shots-by-almost-70-canadian-study-finds

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