Poilievre Calls for End to Vaccine Mandate for Canadian Armed Forces Members

Members of the Canadian Armed Forces at a COVID-19 vaccination site in Montreal on Jan. 16, 2022. The Canadian Press/Graham Hughes

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal government to drop COVID-19 vaccine mandates that remain in place for members of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), a day after Ottawa announced that pandemic-related border measures will end on Sept. 30.

“Trudeau is still keeping his discriminatory & unscientific vaccine mandates for Canadian Forces members,” Poilievre wrote on Twitter on Sept. 27.

“Many of the men & women who want to fight to defend our freedoms aren’t even free themselves to serve their country. End ALL the COVID vaccine mandates, now.”

Poilievre made the remarks a day after cabinet members announced that the government will drop all remaining COVID-19 requirements for travellers entering Canada, including the lifting of all federal testing and quarantine measures, and the mandatory use of the ArriveCan app.

In his Twitter post, Poilievre included a video of himself raising the issue of the vaccine mandate for CAF members in the House of Commons on Sept. 23.

“We are happy that the government has backed down from requiring people to use the disastrous ArriveCan app or follow the unscientific vaccine mandates just to cross the border, but the inconsistency remains,” Poilievre said in Parliament.

“The government now admits that it is safe for an unvaccinated person to get on an airplane or work in a government office, but unsafe for that same person to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. This is obviously unscientific and contradictory. Will the government follow scientific consistency and give our brave men and women their jobs back.”

As of Sept. 28, an official government webpage still says CAF members are required to have “a minimum of two COVID vaccinations,” as implemented in the “CDS [Chief of the Defence Staff] Directive on CAF COVID-19 Vaccination.”

The government said the order is intended to “protect the CAF, and protect others to maintain operational effectiveness as they serve Canada and Canadians at home and abroad.”

Federal Court records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter last month showed that CAF members are still being discharged for non-compliance with the military’s COVID-19 vaccination directive, even after other federal employers have suspended the vaccine requirements.

The Epoch Times previously obtained a leaked copy of a new draft COVID-19 directive from Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Wayne Eyre, dated July 2022, which suggested that the vaccination requirement for CAF members would soon be dropped.

The draft says the intent of the CDS is that “the requirement for all CAF members to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will cease, effective the date of this amendment.” The date of the amendment wasn’t specified in the document.

The draft says that CAF members previously dismissed for not complying with the vaccination requirement will be allowed to apply for re-enrolment. COVID-19 vaccination will also no longer be a requirement for enrolling into the CAF, it said.

Peter Wilson and Noé Chartier contributed to this report.