Edmonton mayor wants jabs mandated

For city staff set to return to work next month

Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson wants a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for city staff with most employees set to return to the workplace next month.

Iveson said vaccinations will be the best way to tackle a fourth wave of the virus with cases again rising across the province. As several municipalities across the country work toward a mandatory vaccine program for employees, such as Toronto, Iveson said it is a measure he would like to see Edmonton enforce as well.

“It’s something we’re looking at very closely. There are obvious occupational health and safety upsides and I think those outweigh the other issues, but there are significant privacy and enforceability issues,” Iveson told reporters Monday afternoon. “Personally, I support going in that direction, but ultimately there’s a lot of complexity that needs to be worked out in the Edmonton context and the Alberta context and consistent with Canadian law.”

City manager Andre Corbould told council last week the city isn’t requiring vaccinations, but encouraging employees to get the jab. Staff have been asked to voluntarily and anonymously disclose if they have been vaccinated so the city can get a better understanding of how many employees have gotten the shot, but that information hasn’t been made available to the public.

All city employees who have been working from home are scheduled to return to their workplaces as of Sept. 20 when facilities are expected to return to 100-per-cent capacity. Masking is also optional for employees and two-metre distancing is no longer required as per the end of the province’s restrictions July 1, the city said in its return-towork guide for employees.

City staff are looking at the legal parameters and requirements to implement a “practical and rigorous mandatory vaccine requirement” with more details to be presented to council next Monday, Iveson said.

Last week, the province’s top doctor said Alberta was looking at the legal implications of making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory in the workplace,

Chief medical officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw made the statement Wednesday during a virtual town hall for primary care providers attended by about 600 people. She responded to a question about why the province wasn’t making vaccines mandatory in high-risk settings for exposure of vulnerable people to COVID-19, like in health care and schools.

“We are looking at legal implications, working with the labour ministry around what kinds of considerations would need to be taken into account, so that if there are employers who make vaccination mandatory we have a clear framework for that,” she said.