Some members of the London, Ont., business sector are responding to the province’s announcement Wednesday of a new vaccine certificate that will come into effect later this month.
All who spoke with 980 CFPL were supportive of the move, which will require Ontarians to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter some public settings that are considered high-risk as of Sept. 22.
Some, however, believed it’s was late coming, while others expressed concern over a lack of clarity on certain issues, including enforcement and why some sectors were impacted and not others.
Patrons will need to show proof of inoculation via a paper or digital receipt of vaccination along with a photo ID. The province says its looking to have a digital QR code and verification app in place for businesses by Oct. 22.
Restaurants, bars and nightclubs, meeting and event spaces, sporting events, sport and fitness facilities as well as casinos and gaming establishments are among the venues where proof of full immunization will be required, along with concerts, theatres and cinemas.
Restaurant patios or takeout services won’t be impacted.
The system, however, won’t apply to staff in the affected locations, but the province says businesses can introduce their own staff vaccine policies. Indoor masking policies will remain enforced.
It also won’t apply to those under the age of 12, those with select medical exemptions, or to essential services such as grocery stores and health care.
“This is a very, very welcome development and frankly, long overdue,” said Graham Henderson, CEO of the London Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber of Commerce had been lobbying for the introduction of such a system so businesses could stay open while keeping the health and safety of employees and the public top of mind, he said.
If anything, the new system doesn’t go far enough and has notable inconsistencies — an example being the restaurant sector, where customers, but not the staff serving them, will be required to be vaccinated, Henderson said.
“The premier’s team yesterday, on the call that we had with them … they said ‘well we strongly urge, we strongly advise businesses to take that step.’ Why not just do it?” he said.
“There are very, very curious exemptions like places of worship, art galleries, museums. Why are they exempted? The goal here is public safety. The goal here is protecting the health of Canadians.”
Henderson said he expects that there will be some business owners who will fire off angry emails and voicemails his way, but “it’s a tiny number of people.”
“I don’t think this needs to be at all as contentious as it is. It’s, sort of, almost become politicized, to be honest.”
The new certificate system also garnered support from the head of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, Rocco Rossi, though he argued that clearer provincial guidance on staff vaccination policies was needed.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business said their member businesses had unanswered questions about the new policy including enforcement and training for businesses and protection against lawsuits.
Provincial staff say operators not complying and customers who present fake documents or ones belonging to someone else will be subject to fines if convicted. Potential fine minimums could be $750 for residents and $1,000 for corporations. Regulations are still being finalized.
“The first thing that some business owners, they will see … (it) as positive, because we don’t want to go backwards. We don’t want any more closures. We don’t want any additional restrictions,” said Jerry Pribil, owner of Marienbad Restaurant and Chaucer’s Pub.
Other business owners, he said, may be wondering, “‘who is going to police this? Who is going to check this documentation? I don’t want to be involved with that, it’s additional work for us.'”
“From my own perspective, I hope it does stay first with the proprietors,” Pribil said, “because I do want to do it myself. I prefer not to (have) bylaw officers or police officers (coming) to my establishment … and start checking this documentation.”
Pribil said he was supportive of the vaccine certificate system, but noted he would have preferred a Canada-wide system, or even one that could work internationally given the global scale of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I do believe it is a motivator for (people) to get fully vaccinated,” because if they don’t, then they won’t be able to see the London Knights, or see shows at the Grand Theatre, he said.
“I grew up in a communist country. I immigrated to Canada to enjoy the freedom. And therefore, I greatly value the freedom of choice. But this is a global pandemic. If you want to have any freedom, there is really only one choice.”
Tom Partalis, president and CEO of London Optimist Sports Centre, which owns and operates BMO Centre, welcomed the new system, but said he wished they had implemented it earlier.
“Better late than never … That will make our job a lot easier,” he said.
Enforcement of the new system will come right before October rolls around, which is the start of their busy season, he said.
It’s been a tough 18 months for the facility — they have only been able to open for about 12 to 13 weeks. “It was like a ghost town inside the BMO Centre. But we had to do what we were told and what we were supposed to do.”
Partalis said most of the BMO Centre’s staff have been fully vaccinated. He anticipates some patrons may be confrontational with employees about having to show proof of vaccination to get in.
“If they have a problem, they should go to Queen’s Park and protest or talk to the premier. But as far as we’re concerned, we have to do what the province is telling us.”
The province didn’t explicitly say Wednesday what businesses should do in the event patrons refuse to show proof of vaccination, or if confrontations arise.
In an email to Global News, a spokesperson with the Ministry of the Solicitor General said they didn’t anticipate that police would conduct routine compliance checks of vaccination receipts, and that members of the public and business owners “should not hesitate to call 9-1-1 if they need the support of police, including in cases where they are being threatened.”
“It’s going to add an extra layer of responsibility or work on my front-line staff, and we’re waiting to see exactly how it rolls out. But as an overview, I think it’s a positive step that needs to be done,” said Alec Pinchin, owner of Fitness Forum.
Pinchin, who describes himself as being “very pro-vaccine,” said getting immunized against COVID-19 was a “responsibility that needs to be taken care of.”
Although the move to a vaccine certification system may alienate some customers, he counters that positive results may come by way of patrons who had been hesitant to attend the facility during the pandemic.
“I think that if they see that everybody in our facility is fully vaccinated, then that’s a win there.”
Pinchin added that he hopes more clarity is provided by the province when it comes to dealing with customers who aren’t vaccinated who believe they have a legitimate reason to use the facilities.
He, like Henderson, also hopes the province can explain why vaccination proof is required for gyms and restaurants but not for other spaces that may also see large numbers of people, like big-box stores.
“A lot of the policies that have come down in the past, I feel that our industry, along with some others, like restaurants, seem to be unfairly pointed out,” he said.
“I’m all for it. But I think maybe it should be launched on a wider level.”
Although the announced certificate system covers various indoor settings, other ones with a high number of congregants, such as churches, and settings where there are extended stays, such as hair salons, were left out.
Asked about a number of sectors that were left out of the vaccination certificate program, Dr. Kieran Moore, the province’s top public health doctor, said the decision was based on current data.
“The venues we have chosen are responsive to the risk we have found in Ontario. If the risk increases in other venues, we can add and implement additional measures to protect Ontarians,” he said.
Cinemas and theatres are among the venues where Ontarians will be required to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination. The sector has been among those hardest hit by the pandemic, with indoor theatres spending much of the pandemic closed.
“We want to keep our business open. We want to keep our customers safe. And I think right now, with the way things are going in other countries, that doing this is probably the best thing we can do,” said Moira Adlan, co-owner of Hyland Cinema, of the new system.
“In terms of what happened last fall, students coming back into town, et cetera, this is going to help reduce that transmission rate and keep us going. I don’t think most small businesses can handle being locked down again.”
Under the province’s current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, cinemas can only hold a maximum indoor capacity of 50 per cent or 1,000 people, whichever is less, a limit that already makes it hard to pay the bills, never mind the economic hardship that would come with another lockdown.
Unlike Partalis and Pinchin, Adlan said she didn’t anticipate that the new system would alienate the cinema’s patrons or result in confrontations with staff.
“We’ve really found that, in a lot of cases, people are pretty willing to be reasonable, because they want to support the local businesses and what they need to do to do that, they’re willing to do to help us out,” Adlan said.
Hyland Cinema operates with a relatively small crew, meaning that if one worker gets exposed to COVID-19, the venue would have to close, she said, “and we can’t afford to.”
Adlan said she was hopeful that things could get to a point where the theatre could begin bringing more people inside and selling out special events, like Retro Mania, which tends to draw a large turnout.
“It also means the distributors are going to start releasing the films that are going to bring even more people. It all ties together,” Adlan said. “If we are all patient and follow this strategy, I believe that it’s going to get us through it.”
Ontario joins British Columbia, Quebec and Manitoba in implementing some form of vaccine certificate program. Quebec’s vaccine passport system took effect on Wednesday.
–With files from Nick Westoll, Jessica Patton and Devon Peacock of Global News, and Holly McKenzie-Sutter of The Canadian Press
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