New federal COVID-19 travel rules in place Saturday
Passengers departing from Iqaluit will need proof of vaccination or valid test results
Starting Saturday, new federal rules require passengers departing from Iqaluit’s airport to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to provide a negative COVID test. (File photo by Corey Larocque)
Starting Saturday, passengers taking off from Iqaluit’s airport will have to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or provide a negative test result as part of new nationwide rules aimed at stopping the spread of the virus.
The federal government rule that comes into effect Oct. 30 requires people boarding planes, trains or ships in Canada to be at least 14 days removed from receiving their second dose of a government-approved COVID-19 vaccine. That includes people boarding planes at Iqaluit’s airport.
Passengers who are not fully vaccinated must provide proof they have tested negative for COVID-19 within the last 72 hours, or they have tested positive for COVID-19 between 14 to 180 days before their departure, according to a Canadian North statement on the new rules.
Canadian North says the new rules apply to departing passengers in Iqaluit and in the southern Canadian cities it flies to. Other Nunavut communities are exempt.
The rules will be applied to departing passengers but not arriving ones.
“For example, a passenger travelling from Pangnirtung to Iqaluit will not be subject to this mandate, but they will be subject to it for their return travel from Iqaluit to Pangnirtung,” Canadian North’s website states.
Passengers travelling to other Nunavut communities from Iqaluit will have the opportunity to do a test if they are not fully vaccinated and the tests take 30 minutes to return a result, Canadian North stated.
But the molecular testing is not guaranteed to be available, the airline added in the statement, and passengers should not rely on them. “Passengers will be responsible for any costs associated with trip interruption if tests are unavailable,” it said.
Other exceptions to the federal rules includes passengers who are under 12 years old, as well any passenger under the age of 16 who is travelling alone, Canadian North stated.
The Government of Nunavut made proof-of-vaccination cards available on Oct. 12.
Where do you get the proof of vaccine cards?
From the Government of Nunavut Web Site: The certificate is free and can be obtained in person only at your local health centre, Iqaluit Public Health or Qikiqtani General Hospital. To avoid overwhelming health facilities, please call your local health centre, Iqaluit Public Health or QGH in advance and they will schedule a time to pick up the PVC. The certificate will also automatically be issued when an individual receives their second dose or booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It is recommended that you only request a PVC a few days prior to your travel date.
What about those who have allergies. Can’t get vaccine because of allergies what should they do.
They dont care about unvaccinated. That’s why inuit would isolate for 2 WHOLE weeks travelling within Canada but qablunaqs coming to canada from out of country isolate for 3-4 days.
See your health care specialist. Very few people who have allergies are actually allergic to the specific ingredients in the mRNA vaccines. There are also other (non-mRNA) vaccines that are available.
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Also people with known allergies are monitored more closely immediately after receiving a vaccine to ensure that there are no immediate negative effects. People should also self monitor for 48 – 72 hours after receiving a vaccine and bring any unusual symptoms to the attention of their health care specialist.
This is getting annoying. If covid was found in Rankin waste water and no one died then what’s the point? Do people who dont get flu shots fo this? Did we do this for bird and swine flu?
If Coral is down to 0 and no one got sent out isnt that enough?
Wonder if we build up a tolerance since one has died from it apart from those that arent vaccinated.
Just another way for them to control us and limit what we do. Guess this is the “new norm”is to be rats in their cage.
Less stop all these rules and laws and maybe humanity will be stronger than the eggheads who only hang out with their price/job range people think.
Annoying?
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You are just full of empathy and compassion. /s
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Maybe you should talk to the 24 people who died yesterday of Covid-19, or to the 29,000 Canadians who have died from Covid-19 since March 2020. Oh right, they are dead. Maybe talk to their grieving families and friends and get their opinion.
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Canada’s mortality rate from Covid-19 sits at 1.69%, down from it’s high of 8.37% back in June 2020. This doesn’t include anyone who died from other illnesses or lack of treatment when hospitals were full of Covid-19 patients. And it doesn’t include all of those with “long” Covid-19 symptoms, or those with other illnesses who have suffered due to a lack of health care resources.
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With vaccines, social distancing, masks, we are almost at the end of this pandemic. The vast majority of adults are vaccinated and 5 – 11 year olds will be vaccinated soon. If we continue for another few months this should reduce Covid-19 to isolated instances where it can be brought under control before exponential growth.
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Maybe you haven’t been paying attention to what happened in Alberta and Saskatchewan when the governments decided to abandon all of their preventative measures. Exponential growth of Covid-19, full hospitals, packed ICUs, and a Health Care system on the point of collapse.
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We are almost at the point where we have Covid-19 under control, but we are not there yet. Is asking you to get vaccinated, and to continue social distancing and masking for maybe another 6 – 9 months really too much to ask?
Hi Albert!
Hope you get the vaccine soon, they really do work, the science is true, and Covid is real. Praying for your future vaccination… to protect those around you! God Bless.
WHY??!! Let’s all just ignore this. Covid getting annoying. How people who never got their flu shots??
Howcome inuit isolate for 2 weeks when qablunaqs coming to canada from out of country isolate for 3-4 days?
Each province and territory had their own admission requirements. Nunavut’s was that people had to stay in an isolation hotel for 2 weeks or be considered an essential employee. So if someone was entering Canada, they may have only had to isolate for 3-4 days, but they would still need to isolate for 2 weeks to enter Nunavut if not considered an essential employee here in Nunavut. It has absolutely nothing to do with race.
Canada is becoming a Socialist Country…
Don’t you get it?
They the governments want every person to be scared and live in fear..
Take back your Human Rights.
Forcing people to take these shots are against our Human Rights.
Also, taking away our rights to fly or go anywhere in Canada.
Those in politics are just playing politics with our Human Rights and Freedoms…
The Far Left are going to far…
Sorry pal but requiring folks to be vaccinated against a disease that has killed 5 million people globally trumps your imaginary human right to freedom of movement. General laws of application like public health orders take precedence. Maybe if you stopped thinking about only yourself and tried to see the greater common good, you’d stop whining and just get vaccinated.
You say socialist as its a bad thing, Canada is a socialist country in a lot of ways and its great! Most of the socialist countries have the best standard of living, education and healthcare.
I think some of you need to do a little more research into what socialist means and not just say it to try and mean its not good when it is great.
For those of us that know what socialist actually is makes us laugh and roll our eyes a bit to your comment 🙂
My experience, travelling on October 30, 2021 from Yellowknife into Nunavut:
I have been fully vaccinated but my official Nunavut vaccination “card” was not accepted. Now you need the QR code on your ‘phone or a print-out of same. I had been in Yellowknife when the Nunavut QR code became available. NWT Public Health tried to get my info but could not access Nunavut medical records. I got an “exemption” but was almost denied travel through no fault of my own.
Be warned!
The QR codes have been available for weeks. Did you call your Nunavut health centre and ask for them to get it to you somehow?