Saskatchewan premier Scott Moe and his provincial government are not currently planning to require vaccine passports for large stadium-type events such as attending Roughriders games.
Moe wants to fill Mosaic Stadium — capacity 33,350 — for the Riders home games in 2021, especially the opener on Friday, August 6. The green and white host the B.C. Lions to kick-off their schedule in the first football game at the green jewel since November 17, 2019.
“When we get past July 11, we’re going to be into an area where the emergency order will not be in place and we most certainly don’t have the ability then to demand that people would show a proof of vaccination for whether or not they would attend any large event here in the province,” Moe said during a press conference.
“With respect to provincial vaccine passports or requirements to be vaccinated to attend certain events or to work in certain areas or anything of that nature, the government of Saskatchewan is not moving in that direction.”
The chief operating officer of the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Scott Livingstone confirmed for Moe it would be against Canada’s federal law, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act to require proof of vaccination to attend an event.
“Post the removal of public health orders and the state of emergency on July 11, we’ll go back to our normal processes of accessing information for residents and remind folks that even your health card number is personal health information. Banks are not allowed to ask for your health card number and nobody else is for a form of ID,” Livingstone said.
“It is personal information and so is vaccination status. It is within the HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act] regulations, that is personal health information. It’s not a requirement for an individual to provide it or other individuals to even ask for it if it’s not related to health services.”
Moe has stated there will be “no restrictions” on fan capacity for Saskatchewan home games this year. Meanwhile, the Riders led the CFL in average home attendance during the 2019 season with 30,723 per game.
