Some Northern colleges, universities make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory

Officials with College Boreal, Cambrian College and Laurentian University are all saying proof of vaccination will be mandatory for students and staff across campus this September.

The decision comes after the schools met with Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Public Health Sudbury & District's chief medical officer and several student groups in the region.

Robert Hache, Laurentian University's president, made an announcement earlier in August, stating that all students living in residence and athletes must show proof of their second vaccination by October 15, 2021.

Other schools followed with similar orders, but today's announcement now extends to all people attending campus, including faculty and staff.

The message from the three largest schools in Sudbury was nearly identical: People who don't show proof of vaccination will be subject to measures such as testing and screening after October 15.

Michel Doucet, College Boreal's vice president of corporate services, said all the schools were on the same page when it came to keeping the general population safe.

"We all have a responsibility to do our part, and we're providing ample opportunity and general guidelines to ensure that when they return, these measures are put in place to ensure the safety of all the corners of our community," Doucet said.

The end goal, Doucet said, is to ensure the entire community is safe.

"This is not being taken lightly and this is not a decision that we've made just because somebody else has done it in another part of the country or another part of the province," he said.

"This is the right thing to do."

Eric Chappell, president of Laurentian's StudentGeneral Association, is calling his school's announcement a good "first step," but adds there weren't a lot of details provided about how the plan will be put into play.

That concerns Chappell, as he expects students to begin arriving in residence in just a few weeks.

"There's not a lot of detail on how we are going to track, how we're going to essentially authenticate people's vaccination statuses," Chappell said. "And how it's going to be executed evenly across campus."

"I really want to make sure that the students and the faculty and the staff and the administration are all held to the same standard when it comes to vaccinations."

Chappell said the school also hasn't provided guidance on what to do if an individual refuses to abide by the vaccine mandate or the required testing or screening.

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"The students are the easiest group to impose requirements on," Chappell said. "We don't have collective agreements, we're not inherently powerful individuals, and I think it's very important that all parties work together and hold their own members to the same standards."

Public Health Sudbury & Districts will be working with the schools to provide access to vaccines on campus, including planned pop-up clinics and visits from the mobile vaccine bus.