Travel from Canadian airports and railways will soon be required to be completely vaccinated, according to the Canadian government.

According to the Canadian government, the first phase of the new restrictions will begin on October 30. In order to board federally controlled modes of transportation, all passengers aged 12 and up will need to be vaccinated.

All domestic and international flights departing from Canadian airports, rail passengers on VIA Rail and Rocky Mountaineer trains, and cruise ship passengers on cruises of 24 hours or more are included.

Travelers who are in the process of getting vaccinated will have a 30-day transition period. Unvaccinated passengers who have a valid COVID-19 molecular test done within 72 hours of departure may be allowed to board. All travelers, however, must be completely vaccinated by November 30. Only emergency travel and those who are medically unable to be vaccinated may be exempt.

Other accommodations for travelers from rural places will be included in the new mandate to ensure that they can still travel for critical services. More information will be available in the coming days.

Employees in the transportation industry will be affected as well. As of October 30, all businesses in the federally regulated aviation, rail, and maritime transportation industries must have immunization policies in place. Airlines, airports, including concession and hospitality workers, railways, rail crew, track employees, and marine operators with 12 or more crew members in Canada are all covered by the regulation. Employees who have not received all of their vaccinations will be unable to work.

Inspections will be used by Transport Canada to enforce the new regulations. Failure to comply by employers in the transportation sector might result in fines ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 per infringement.

In collaboration with the provinces and territories, the federal government is actively establishing a pan-Canadian proof of vaccination. The paper is expected to be made available in digital formats, though no date has been set yet.

The Government of Canada, as the country’s largest employer, is committed to taking the lead in preserving the health and safety of public workers and the communities in which they live and work across Canada and around the world. Furthermore, the Government of Canada will require personnel in the federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors to get vaccinated as soon as practicable in the fall and no later than the end of October. Certain travelers will also be required to be vaccinated. All commercial air passengers, interprovincial train passengers, and passengers on large marine vessels with overnight accommodations are included.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the implementation date on Wednesday, along with the government’s new vaccine mandates, which will apply to federal civil officials and personnel in federally regulated companies. Each of the three vaccine mandates has its own timeframe, and the federal government did not provide a federal vaccine passport document at the same time; instead, officials suggested that individual passengers would utilize their provincial vaccine passports.

The government believes that immunization will help lower the risk of COVID-19 and preserve the country’s broader public health, according to the announcement. Federal governmental personnel must submit an attestation proving they are completely vaccinated by October 29 or risk being placed on indefinite unpaid vacation two weeks beyond the deadline, according to the administration. Members of the civil service, including the RCMP, will be subject to the guidelines. Officials expect similar rules to be implemented by Crown agencies and enterprises.

Civil servants will be forced to certify that they are properly vaccinated, but they will not be compelled to provide the government with any proof of vaccination. Instead, authorities told reporters at a background briefing that audits of the attestations would be conducted to validate some of them. Officials did not explain why federal personnel would not be asked to show proof of immunization.

Employees with medical or religious reasons will be offered exemptions from the vaccine mandate, according to officials. According to government guidelines, someone is fully immunized two weeks after receiving their second COVID-19 vaccination dose.

The vaccine mandates will be reassessed every six months, according to officials, and anyone who has been placed on unpaid leave will remain on leave until they have been vaccinated or the policy is no longer in effect.

According to government authorities, federally regulated industries such as the financial industry, aviation, rail, and marine operators will be expected to apply comparable norms. The vaccine mandate is likely to be in force by Oct. 30 in federally regulated industries. The government first announced its immunization plans on Aug. 13, and authorities stated that many corporations, including Air Canada, WestJet, and Canadian National Railway, had already implemented vaccine mandates.