COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund: Federal letter to Ontario

October 25, 2022

The Honourable Sylvia Jones
Minister of Health
5775 Yonge Street, 16th Floor
Toronto ON M74 2E5
Canada

Dear Minister Jones, Dear Sylvia,

Since early 2020, our governments have worked together to protect the health and safety of people in Canada in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As part of these efforts, our considerable collaboration over the past year on the development and issuance of the standardized Canadian COVID-19 proof of vaccination credential (Canadian PVC) is a true success story. The effective implementation of the Canadian PVC has provided its holders with a reliable and secure way to demonstrate their COVID-19 vaccination history as required in the context of international travel.

Building on your government's substantial work to develop and implement the Canadian PVC, I am writing to provide additional information about the Government of Canada's COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund, as announced in the Economic and Fiscal Update on December 14, 2021. This $300 million Fund will support provincial and territorial expenditures related to the implementation and maintenance of proof of vaccination programs.

This letter is intended to outline your jurisdiction's allocation, as well as shared objectives and areas of collaboration going forward, recognizing that provinces and territories have jurisdiction over health care services and are the custodians of health data, including vaccination registries, while the Government of Canada is committed to facilitating the ability of Canadians to travel internationally.

The Government of Canada will be seeking your continued collaboration to preserve holders' access to Canadian PVCs as records of their COVID-19 vaccination history. This will ensure that our governments, collectively, can continue to leverage proof of vaccination to support existing and future public health measures, as required. The Government of Canada will also seek your collaboration to continue to facilitate travel by Canadians internationally, as we expect that proof of vaccination requirements for entry to other countries will be required for some time.

Government of Canada commitments

Funding under the COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund will be made available through single statutory payments to each province and territory. Each jurisdiction will receive a base allocation of $10 million, with the remainder of the Fund distributed on a per capita basis. Funding will be provided according to the following formula:

$10M + (($300M − [13 × $10M]) × population ratio per Statistics Canada 2021 population estimate^{Footnote 1})

Based on this formula and subject to your response, Ontario will receive $75,901,265.

The Government of Canada remains a committed partner in the ongoing implementation of a pan-Canadian PVC. In addition to the $300 million Fund, the Government of Canada commits to continued action in the following areas to support your jurisdiction:

• In order to support an ongoing consistent approach to proof of vaccination credentials across Canada, the Government of Canada will continue to provide federal guidance, specifications, and technical support to help sustain the Canadian PVC program managed and issued by provinces and territories. This includes collaborating, coordinating, and sharing information and best practices with provinces, territories, private sector organizations, and Indigenous communities to address and mitigate any barriers specific groups may face in obtaining a Canadian PVC (e.g., newcomers to Canada, members of Indigenous communities).
• In the interest of supporting provinces and territories with international proof of vaccination fraud investigations and vaccine registry due diligence, the Government of Canada will provide trusted information on international standards and facilitate interactions with foreign partners, where necessary.
• The Government of Canada will also continue to be a first point of contact to support holders of Canadian PVCs while travelling abroad, relying on timely access to provincial and territorial contact points with access to vaccination data as needed to resolve issues. As travel volumes are rising, and where authentication of Canadian PVCs by foreign jurisdictions may increase, there could be a demand for round-the-clock issue resolution that would require close federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) collaboration.
• To facilitate international mobility of Canadian PVC holders, the Government of Canada will continue to enable the international usability of the Canadian PVC by monitoring the evolution of international proof of vaccination requirements, liaising with other countries and international organizations, and advocating for increased efficiency and efficacy through international interoperability solutions. Updates will continue to be provided through existing governance tables.

Provincial and territorial commitments

The Government of Canada is requesting that your jurisdiction continue to ensure that Canadian PVCs remain available. As a condition of funding, I am seeking your commitment in writing to:

• maintain alignment with the pan-Canadian specification for the Canadian PVC and to continue to follow the specification as it evolves to ensure it remains interoperable domestically and internationally;
• maintain the Canadian PVC (including continued issuance) for as long as other international or domestic jurisdictions are requiring it, for up to three additional years beginning in April 2022; and
• provide dedicated and sustained points of contact to other provincial and territorial governments and to the Government of Canada, to allow user issues, including out of jurisdiction issues such as those that may occur outside of the province or territory that issued the PVC, to be addressed by FPT partners collaboratively.

Areas of continued FPT collaboration

Finally, the Government of Canada is committed to further improving the Canadian PVC and user experience, and is seeking to continue working with you in the following areas.

• Eligibility: The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring fair and consistent access to Canadian PVCs across the country. I encourage provinces and territories to ensure that any person vaccinated in Canada or by Canadian authorities, or any person with a right of entry who was vaccinated abroad (e.g., Canadians, permanent residents, persons registered under the Indian Act, or protected persons) who received one or more doses of a COVID-19 vaccine accepted at the Canadian border, is eligible to receive a Canadian PVC within the province or territory where they reside. The Government of Canada is also implementing this approach, as a Canadian PVC issuer to certain federal populations.
• Vaccination registries: Provinces and territories have undertaken considerable work to vaccinate millions of Canadians quickly and efficiently. Given the speed and complexity of the vaccine rollout, it is possible that there are gaps in COVID-19 vaccination data in health information systems that are particularly relevant for proof of vaccination; for example, around the type of vaccines administered or vaccine lot numbers. I encourage provinces and territories to address any gaps by ensuring that vaccination registries are accurate, complete, and contain the data needed to meet international proof of vaccination requirements. Where appropriate, I also encourage provinces and territories to collaborate with Indigenous partners to ensure that Indigenous COVID-19 vaccination data can be incorporated into vaccine registries, and to consider supporting Indigenous communities' costs associated with PVCs.
• Accessibility: The Government of Canada is committed to ensuring that any individual eligible to receive proof of vaccination has easy access, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, gender, and mental or physical disability. I encourage provinces and territories to ensure that those eligible for a Canadian PVC do not face barriers in obtaining one. This includes issuing credentials at the time of vaccination and making them available electronically and on paper, online and in-person, and at no cost. This could also include supporting Indigenous organizations to facilitate access to Canadian PVCs for their members.
• Security and integrity: Protecting the security of Canadians' personal health data is of paramount importance to all levels of government. I encourage provinces and territories to continue work on the security and integrity of proof of vaccination information technology (IT) infrastructure and countering proof of vaccination fraud, including by adopting the capacity to revoke fraudulent Canadian PVCs.

Additional information about the COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund

The Government of Canada is committed to making this funding available as quickly as possible, in acknowledgement that significant work has already been completed in this area, and to support ongoing work on proof of vaccination by provinces and territories.

In order to access the funding and to maintain transparency and accountability for Canadians, I ask that you respond to this letter indicating your agreement with the commitments and areas of collaboration outlined above, noting that this letter, along with your response, will be made public via the Government of Canada website. In the spirit of our continued close collaboration on this work, the Government of Canada will seek updates regarding PT progress on PVC initiatives from time to time through existing governance to help inform our collaborative efforts.

I am forwarding, for their information, a copy of our exchange of correspondence to the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance; and the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities.

Thank you again for the efforts that your government has made in the service of our shared objectives of keeping Canadians safe and promoting mobility. I look forward to our continued collaboration.

Sincerely,

The Hon. Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., F.R.S.C
Minister of Health