After months of student and faculty complaints, the University of Toronto has finally revoked its vaccine passport for those on campus, effective May first, says the university..After U of T faculty submitted a formal human rights complaint regarding the vaccine mandate a month ago, the university decided to finally put an end date to the regulation..This change comes after much anticipation and complaint from faculty and students..Ontario removed its COVID-19 passport on March first, but U of T announced March 4 it will continue the proof of vaccination program..This week U of T along with the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Guelph all decided to lift masking and vaccine requirements at the end of the winter semester..“In order to minimize uncertainty and disruption to our students, staff, faculty and university communities, U of T will maintain our COVID-19 vaccination and masking policies until the end of the winter term, April 30, 2022,” reads the U of T website..A press release from March 21 showed the faculty and student frustration prior to this announcement..“Why is the university stubbornly resisting the evolving science when they relied on it to legally justify their overreaching vaccination requirements,” asked the release signed by associate professor Jeff Graham..“.The University of Toronto is going against public health recommendations even though they relied on them to enforce overly restrictive mandates on students, staff, and faculty.”.“The University’s approach violates the human rights of members of the University of Toronto community and must be immediately removed.”.An organization called the Students for COVID Ethics has been actively speaking out against the Ontario school for its rules, publishing letters and updates..Student Benjamin Gabbay wrote to professor Sandy Welsh, vice-provost of U of T, and got no response, now his letters are public on the Students for COVID Ethics website..Gabbay quoted the university’s words “the University’s policies and guidelines will align with the most recent provincial directives,” as he highlighted Dr. Keiran Moore’s recommendations for universities to remove the mandate on March first..U of T is still recommending on its website that all students get COVID-19 booster shots..In Alberta, as vaccine mandates were lifted, Universities slowly started revoking their COVID-19 policies as well..Now University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, University of Alberta, University of Lethbridge, and MacEwan University have all lifted the mandates..Since rescinding mandates and vaccine passports, no provincial governm.ents or institutions have come forward admitting those policies inflicted harm on anyone, said LifeSite in their report about U of T lifting its mandates..Ewa Sudyk is a reporter with the Western Standard.,.esudyk@westernstandard.news
