With regulations requiring almost all travellers aged 12 or older in Canada to be fully vaccinated set to take effect in less than a fortnight (Oct. 30), a lengthy, complicated list of concerns remains for the travel industry – from which vaccines will be accepted to who will screen documents at airports, and even which airports will even be allowed to handle international flights.

The veil of uncertainty has led to airlines to demand answers on the patchwork of provincial systems, as well as who will handle verification once a nationwide proof-of-vaccination platform and QR code come into effect, the timing for which is also unknown.

Canadian carriers have received three consultation papers from Transport Canada recently asking for feedback on putting an agency in charge of the proof-of-vaccine validation process, according to three sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The government is considering handing responsibility to airport officers, rather than airlines – which are happy to skip the headache – with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), the Crown corporation that oversees passenger and baggage screening at airports, taking on the additional role if the plan goes ahead following industry feedback.

Airlines have been lobbying for CATSA to take the reins on vaccine checks at airports in what would amount to a shift from the current health protocol where carriers are responsible for checking passengers’ COVID-19 test results.

“Ultimately, verifying the legitimacy of people’s vaccination records should reside with government,” Andy Gibbons, head of government relations and regulatory affairs at WestJet Airlines, said in an interview.

“I can see the Calgary airport from here. You have four entry points for CATSA, and you have 90-some-odd gates across however many airlines,” added WestJet spokesman Richard Bartrem. “It is a much more efficient process and gets it into the hands of government agencies versus us as the airline to be verifying that.”

The government continues to sort out how to knit together 13 different provincial and territorial documentation regimes into a single passport-like certificate, complete with a QR code that can be screened across the country.

The “technical administration” of a domestic vaccination document available in digital formats remains a work in progress,” Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said late last week, adding, “We are working very closely with the provinces and territories to implement that requirement, but the requirement is clear, and people need to plan their lives accordingly.”

Transport Canada is co-ordinating with government partners and stakeholders to “develop the operational model for validating proof of vaccination for travellers,” noted spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu in an email.

At Flair Airlines, chief executive Stephen Jones’ development team is working on how to upload proof of vaccination as part of the booking and check-in process, in case CATSA does not assume sole responsibility – or only does so until the digital vaccine passport enters the picture. “But that is yet to be completed,” he said of the upload plans.

“This is a federal mandate and that’s a federally run process, and so it would make sense to have it at that (security) point. Because failing that you can have people wandering around on the secure side of the airport without having had their vaccination status checked,” Jones said. “Health is run provincially, so I recognize that there are complexities to it.”

Approved vaccines

Complications to both the eventual digital, single-source proof of vaccination and the more scattershot process of validating vaccine documents from various jurisdictions that will kick off Oct. 30 include factors like records for shots received in the US as well as differences in provincially approved vaccines.

Nova Scotia and Alberta, for example, recognize any vaccine authorized by the World Health Organization, such as Sinovac, while other provinces and Health Canada have a shorter list.

Discrepancies exist between countries as well.

“It would be very important for Canada to agree on the kind of proof that can be used for vaccination or for tests with as many countries as possible,” said Transat vice-president Christophe Hennebelle, stressing the government’s role in vaccine checks. “The more help we can get in planning and implementing that, the better for us.”

More airports

The sector is also hoping to see the government allow more airports to accept international flights. Ten currently enjoy that status, expanded from four when Ottawa first introduced the restriction in February as part of a move to discourage non-essential trips, slow the spread of COVID-19 variants and concentrate the location of quarantine hotels.

Airports in cities such as Victoria, Kelowna, BC, and Hamilton, Ont., that would typically book flights bound for the US and Caribbean destinations as winter approaches now face a “big competitive concern,” which also affects airlines, said Canadian Airports Council president Daniel-Robert Gooch.

“Many of these airports have flights that are scheduled, and those flights are at risk of being cancelled,” he said, adding that some carriers have already begun to scrap flights.

Transport Canada said it will consider authorizing more airports based on demand, operational capacity, and Canada’s “epidemiological situation.”