Passport

Saturday July 2, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday July 2, 2022

The misery of waiting overnight in line in hopes of getting a passport

May 25, 2022

After two days and one night lining up outside the passport office at downtown Vancouver’s Sinclair Centre, Kris Hansen still hadn’t made it inside, still hadn’t spoken to a single Service Canada official. The 50-something school principal spent a Thursday night last week under a blanket on the sidewalk on Hastings. There were no security guards outside. No Porta Potties. No signage. No one in line had any idea when – or if – they would be seen.

After sitting cross-legged on the concrete for hours on end, Mr. Hansen had bought himself a canvas camping chair. He was trying to renew his son’s passport. The boy wants to see his dying grandfather in Japan one last time. He is desperate to say goodbye.

“I have no choice,” Mr. Hansen said, shaking violently from the bitter, pre-dawn cold. “I know how much this means to him.”

A few minutes later, a kind soul began handing out blue plastic ponchos, to help cut the north wind coming off the Burrard Inlet.

“I’m just so tired,” Mr. Hansen said, his eyes filling with tears. “I haven’t slept. I’ve had to cancel classes. There are so many better ways this could be handled. This is lacking all logic. All common decency.”

For the past five months, this is how people in B.C.’s Lower Mainland have been applying for – and renewing – their passports. A surge in demand is creating massive backlogs across the country. The wait times at the Surrey passport office are just as bad. The office in Richmond doesn’t have a printer able to create passports. Last week, police had to be called to the Montreal passport office to help with large crowds.

A week earlier, the federal government rolled out a new “triaging” system to deal with the passport crisis, which began ahead of March break: Those flying out in less than 48 hours are now given priority access, explained Karina Gould, Minister of Children, Families and Social Development, whose portfolio is responsible for the passport office.

So, people began immediately booking tickets for fake trips that they won’t be taking, to increase their odds of actually setting foot inside a Service Canada office.

Julie Scott-Ashe, a GIS mapping analyst with the B.C. government, managed to secure an appointment at a Saskatoon passport office. Saskatoon and Regina are the only two passport offices in the country with appointments before August. Since it would cost $1,200 to fly to Saskatchewan from Vancouver, she is planning to book a cheap flight to Edmonton, then rent a car and drive the rest of the way.

She needs to renew her daughter’s passport, so their family in Europe can reunite for the first time since the pandemic began.

Five months into the crisis, Canadian passport offices still close for weekends and holidays. They still shutter at 4, every afternoon. Last week, the Vancouver office had just half the 15 staff that normally work there.

Why hadn’t Ottawa asked bureaucrats to temporarily help staff passport offices, Ms. Scott-Ashe wondered. Before B.C. began rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, she noted, the province encouraged its civil servants to volunteer to work on the project. (The Globe & Mail) 

 

Wednesday March 2, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday March 2, 2022

Hamilton-area businesses, hospitals and city facilities are dropping proof-of-vaccination today

Businesses, hospitals and city facilities in the Hamilton area are dropping their proof of vaccination policies Tuesday, as Ontario ends most of its major COVID-19 public health measures.

February 1, 2022

It is no longer required to show evidence of receiving two shots at most restaurants, gyms and movie theaters and nightclubs, while sports arenas and concert venues can also scrap capacity limits, along with other changes.

However, Premier Doug Ford has said masks will likely continue to be required for at least a few more weeks.

Hamilton’s medical officer of health previously said she’s “cautiously optimistic” about Ontario’s plan to ease some COVID-19 restrictions.

But Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said individual employers should still consider how immunization fits in their health and safety approach for staff and patrons.

The City of Hamilton will no longer require visitors to its recreational facilities, museums and the Gage Park tropical greenhouse to show proof of vaccination.

Masks and face coverings are still required, says the city, and businesses are required to post signs near their entrances explaining how customers can screen themselves for symptoms.

Wednesday August 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 11, 2021

Get set for a Ford reversal about vaccine passports

Pressure is growing — pretty much daily — on the Ontario government to mandate vaccine passports, or at least some form of vaccine certificate. 

April 29, 2021

So far, Premier Doug Ford and his ministers remain adamant they won’t go there. But that is exactly what Ford said about paid sick days and we all remember what happened on that front. Public pressure from just about every quarter eventually forced Ford to reverse himself. Yes, he tried to blame the federal government, but the truth is he should have yielded to widespread calls for paid sick days long before he eventually buckled.

It says here, along with many other pulpits of punditry, that Ford will end up doing the same thing on vaccine passports. He won’t have a choice.

Not everyone agrees that passports (or a certificate) are essential. Respected co-medical director of infection control at St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton, Dr. Zain Chagla, has said there are a “litany of ethical and legal privacy issues” that are “difficult to wrangle within that context.” (He does support a vaccine passport being implemented for international travel.) Chagla says he has nothing against passports, but doubts they will succeed as a standalone measure, without other measures like raising vaccination rates also at play.

July 21, 2021

Fair enough. Credible voices should be heard. But a growing chorus is calling for passports/certificates. The Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario support them. All Ontario’s opposition parties agree. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) backs the idea. Manitoba has issued vaccination cards and Quebec just announced it will introduce passports. 

Even the Ontario Chamber of Commerce — not exactly an advocate of state intervention — agrees.

In an interview with Torstar’s Rob Ferguson, chamber president Rocco Rossi said: “The last thing anyone wants is to be shut down, but that’s what will happen if we don’t use every tool in the tool kit … It’s about mitigating risk as much as possible. We are going to be living with this for a while.”

With respect to credible dissenters, we think the majority is right on this subject. Vaccine passports are no panacea, but they are one more arrow in the quiver as we get set to fight it out with a fourth wave.

Passports would allow those who are fully vaccinated to come closer to a normal life. They would allow vaccinated patrons and staff at places like restaurants and gyms to feel safer and more likely to take part in a robust economic recovery. Proof of vaccination would allow businesses and institutions (concert venues and the like) to only allow fully vaccinated people (or those with a negative test) to take part. Conversely, fully vaccinated patrons could choose to avoid businesses and institutions that do not have proof of vaccine requirements. 

March 11, 2021

To a point, that will happen regardless of whether the government does this or not. But leaving it to individual businesses and organizations is a recipe for inconsistency and possibly disaster. The government must do it to ensure a level playing field. 

Premier Ford, sadly, does not agree. He has said a “hard no” to reconsidering the idea, insisting it will create a “split society.” 

But if you want proof that is just deflection, consider that Ford also says the federal government should implement proof of vaccination requirements. So it’s clear Ford’s ideological objection to passports/certificates are not particularly strong, he just doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Too bad. The feds will need to be involved from the international travel perspective, but pandemic management is a provincial responsibility. Ford cannot continue to duck his on this issue. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Thursday March 11, 2021

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday March 11, 2021

Vaccination passports: a long, tortuous road

Prepare for the next COVID-19 controversy: vaccine passports. The idea that vaccine, or immunity, passports will need to be developed and implemented manifests in two major ways. They can be loosely defined as domestic and international.

January 9, 2021

For the purpose of international travel, Canada won’t have much choice but to adopt vaccine passports. Countries around the world have already started down this road, including Israel and several European countries. Denmark and Sweden announced last month they are developing digital passports. President of the European Commissions Ursula von der Leyen tweeted March 1 that a proposed “Digital Green Pass” would help EU citizens move around safely. The pass will include a record of vaccination, or failing that of a negative COVID-19 test.

And Canadian airlines are already asking for the government to make vaccine passports part of the plan for reopening international travel.

September 19, 2020

So Canada needs to decide, and fairly soon, if it wants to be part of this worldwide movement. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has expressed misgivings. He worries, as do many, about the potential of some people being unfairly and unintentionally targeted, such as people who cannot be vaccinated for reasons of immunosuppression. Others worry the passport may stigmatize those who, for whatever reason, choose not to get vaccinated. 

These are legitimate concerns, which is why this subject will only become more contentious over the coming weeks and months. Notwithstanding Trudeau’s concerns, Health Minister Patti Hajdu has said the government is having “very live” discussions with international partners. All things being equal, some form of international travel vaccine passport is pretty much inevitable, and those who don’t have one won’t be travelling. 

October 8, 2020

The contentiousness only gets thicker when you consider how this will apply domestically. Will provincial governments want proof of vaccination for interprovincial travel? That is relatively easy to police through airports, but what about land crossings? Given the Constitution guarantees Canadians freedom of movement, not just those vaccinated, how long until a legal challenge is launched? Might some provinces simply say you are not welcome unless you are vaccinated? (The likely answer is yes — look at the Maritime bubble.)

October 15, 2020

It’s not just about travel, either. Consider major events. Will those organizing football, hockey, basketball, concerts and graduations and the like want a virus-free environment? The only way to ensure that is through record of vaccination. So is someone who isn’t vaccinated precluded from attending?

Consider it at the individual level. If you are making a reservation with friends at your favourite restaurant, surely you are entitled to ask if the restaurant has restrictions for unvaccinated patrons. Even though you are protected, you could still carry the virus and pass it to unprotected people, such as your unvaccinated parents, friends and kids. 

Consider small to medium-sized businesses, already struggling through pandemic restrictions. At some, vaccinated patrons may demand proof of safe passage. If five per cent of the business’s customers refuse vaccination, will the business have to write off their business? Can they afford to do that given the financial pressure they are already under?

It’s headache-inducing. If everyone who can safely be vaccinated is, the problem will be dramatically reduced. But we know that isn’t likely to happen, that even with vaccine hesitancy reduced, a percentage of the population will stubbornly refuse. How the rest of us relate and interact with those people poses new and thorny challenges. (Hamilton Spectator Editorial) 

 

Saturday December 16, 2000

By Graeme MacKay, Editorial Cartoonist, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday December 16, 2000

A new president who will need lots of help; What’s in the papers

It may be too much to expect that George W. Bush can be the “uniter” he’s promised to be. The Republican’s best hope may lie in showing that he’s “not a divider.” 

For now, he’s entitled to good wishes and open minds. After all, he’s the only president-elect the American people have, and it’s a tough job on its best day. 

He’s certainly talking the talk. “I was not elected to serve one party but to serve one nation,” Bush told an enthusiastic Texas statehouse crowd Wednesday. 

But Washington may not prove so welcoming. Even a modest goal of less divisiveness presents Bush with the challenge of several lifetimes. Most presidents get at least a short honeymoon to test their skills at making connections; Bush may not. There are a lot of hard feelings out there. Even before the latest court rulings, the politics of character assassination was ratcheting up at every turn. The rabid see no purpose in restraint. And the nation’s minority voters feel seriously wronged by this election. They will keep saying so. 

Bush , moreover, has left himself vulnerable to attack. His postelection demeanour and isolation did not show him as a man in charge, a man skilled in diplomacy, or even a man eager for great responsibilities. 

His deer-in-the-headlights moments do not auger well for foreign policy leadership, in particular. 

During the debates, he managed to mouth the words supplied by Condoleezza Rice. But if he continues without his own vision, and keeps appearing just an expression or two short of terror, he will surely get a major test from one of America’s enemies. 

Domestically, the country can muddle along, doing little more than paying down the national debt, for one presidential term if necessary. Any accomplishments will be a bonus. 

If Bush can’t rein in his party’s right-wing extremists, he can expect to be vilified, to lose the hairbreadth GOP margin in Congress in ’02, and to earn the disdain of the American people, not to mention the ever-harsher cruelties of Saturday Night Live. 

His legitimacy is slender indeed, hanging by the narrowest of Supreme Court majorities. As a payback for the cries of “illegitimate” that greeted President Clinton after his non-majority victories, there’s a rough justice to the fragile Bush hold on the presidency. But hold it he does. 

Other presidents have overcome unnerving beginnings. George W. Bush deserves room to try to work for “common sense, common courtesy, common goals.” Americans need to give him that room, and their prayers. (Source: Detroit Free Press)