Vaccine certificate protests planned at city halls across Canada, including Ottawa

Protests in opposition of COVID-19 vaccine certificates are happening in Ottawa, others parts of Ontario, and across Canada on Wednesday.

This comes just one week after large and disruptive demonstrations took over streets in front of hospitals in various parts of the country, mainly to speak out about the same thing.

Though last week’s protests drew thousands of people, it’s unclear whether the September 8 gatherings will be quite as large.

Instead of hospitals, the protests will be targeting city halls in the different cities.

‘We Are All Essential,’ which is behind the events, is calling for business owners, employees, and consumers to join together to “reject the tyranny of vaccine passports,” urging people to “unite businesses for freedom of choice.”

The protests are supposed to start at 1 p.m. 

The protests that took place on September 1 have been widely criticized for targeting hospitals. In many cases, patients trying to receive care, people visiting family, and others going to grieve loved ones were disrupted by loud demonstrators, many of whom were not masked.

Some cancer patients told CityNews Vancouver they were forced to get out of their cars and walk through crowds of unmasked, angry people in order to make it to their treatments, putting them at further risk.

The first step of Ontario's vaccine certificate plan goes into effect on September 22. That’s when Ontarians will have to show a piece of photo ID and their printed or downloaded vaccine receipt, that be accessed on the Ontario.ca portal, before gaining entrance to certain public settings and facilities.

A month later, on October 22, the second phase of the plan goes into effect. That’s when Ontarians will have to show government-issued certificates that will include a unique QR code that can be scanned on phones. The document can also be printed out on paper.

While many people have protested “mandatory vaccines,” it should be noted that there is no order requiring people to be vaccinated in Ontario or elsewhere in the country — it remains a personal choice.

A new poll from the Angus Reid Institute finds there is growing support for vaccine passports, with about 70 per cent of respondents in Canada saying they believe they should be used if people want to access public places, like restaurants, malls, movies, and churches.

Meanwhile, 77 per cent of Canadians surveyed say provincial governments should use regulatory measures to get vaccination rates up, while 33 per cent believe incentives are the way to go.