Calgary post secondaries will not require vaccine proof for fall studies

CALGARY — Being fully vaccinated is a requirement at one college in Ontario for students this fall — but that won’t be happening here in Calgary.

The University of Calgary, SAIT Polytechnic, and Mount Royal University all say though they encourage students and staff to get vaccinated, they won’t be implementing a vaccine policy to get on campus.

Mount Royal University general counsel and secretary, Amy Nixon, says the school will still be following the recommendations put out by the province.

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“There is clear messaging I think that most areas of government have been hesitant to go to a place of mandating vaccines,” Nixon said.

“In the provincial and federal specific legal landscapes, case law and historical decision making around requiring vaccines, it’s not really supportive. Actually, I would say it’s not supportive of requiring vaccines for all members of our community, it would be very hard for us to navigate that from a compliance perspective, because there are various legal aspects, including human rights law.”

She went on to say due to the size and landscape of most post-secondary campuses — along with various points of entry — it would be “very hard” to monitor who comes in and out of the buildings.

Down south, both the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge College also won’t be implementing mandatory vaccines though the two schools are hosting vaccine competitions to encourage their students and faculty to get immunized.