In March 2021, the Trudeau government quietly initiated steps toward a national vaccine passport program as revealed in a proactive release of government documents obtained through an Access to Information request.

The talks for a vaccine passport, fully integrated with a worldwide medical surveillance scheme were happening nearly four months before a public announcement about the travel requirement in July 2021.

These documents reveal that while Canadians faced harsh lockdowns and travel restrictions, government insiders were laying the groundwork for a system that would regulate their movement based on proof of COVID-19 vaccination — all with the intention to make the program part of a broader international digital ID program.

According to the documents, senior government officials convened meetings to discuss a pan-Canadian vaccination certification framework as early as March 2021.

Their goal? To align Canada with international standards for vaccine credentials while addressing growing pressure from industries such as aerospace and automotive, which wanted the resumption of business travel.

One interim solution proposed, and ultimately chosen, was integrating the ArriveCan app with vaccination data. Travellers would upload photos of their vaccination documents, linked to their IDs and passports, generating a QR code for border officials — which became mandatory in November 2021.

This “low fidelity” workaround was to eventually give way to a more comprehensive digital passport interoperable with global systems.

The app, originally introduced as a pandemic tracking tool, has since been embroiled in controversy. The app was boondoggle after revelations that the development and maintenance of the app ballooned to nearly $60 million, a staggering figure for what experts have described as a relatively simple software program which was replicated for a fraction of the cost over a weekend in the private sector.

That scandal was compounded by reports of contracts with no deliverables, and the wining and dining of bureaucrats for preferential treatment. And then there were erroneous quarantine orders and widespread technical glitches which sent nearly 10,000 people to wrongful COVID quarantine under threat of $5,000+ in fines.

Yet, in March 2021, even within the government, officials in the documents recognized the potential legal and privacy issues tied to collecting sensitive vaccination data through digital platforms.

Despite these concerns, the Trudeau government pressed forward with ArriveCAN and its expanded role in vaccine passport functionality, underscoring a broader agenda to entrench surveillance and control mechanisms.

While globalist bodies like the WHO and EU pushed for universal standards, Canada seemed, as always under Trudeau, eager to follow their lead, leaving ordinary Canadians to navigate the growing burden of digital gatekeeping and medical classism.

Vaccine passports were presented as a tool for reopening, but in reality, they were part of creating a two-tier society where access to travel and public life is contingent on personal medical decisions.

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