Out-Of-Province Tourists Are Stressing Over Quebec's Vaccine Passport

As Quebec unveils more details on its COVID-19 vaccine passport, tourists from out of province are still in the dark as to how the system — the only provincial vaccine passport to be announced in Canada so far — will impact them.

"I don't know how that'll work because we don't have vaccine passports," said Amanda Diodato, 28, a native Montrealer who's been living in Toronto for eight years. Diodato said she has parents, grandparents, friends, aunts and uncles in Montreal who she plans to visit.

"I don't want to drive six hours just to be turned around."

While Diodato is vaccinated, she said she's concerned about whether her proof of vaccination will be accepted as part of Quebec's passport system.

"I don't know if they're going to take my word for it. I could pull up my receipt on my email, but I don't know if they see that as the same. So really, it is a little bit stressful when travelling because I don't want to drive six hours just to be turned around or to just to stay locked up in my hotel room," she said.

Stacey Lapointe, a 24-year-old resident of Kingston, Ontario, told MTL Blog she plans to visit her in-laws and close friends in Montreal around September.

She said she's only managed to get one COVID-19 vaccine dose because she's had trouble finding an appointment for her second.

"I would strongly recommend that they come to visit me instead."

"I would feel like an inconvenience if I were the reason [...] that we could not attend shows, eat at restaurants or partake in some of the other social activities we enjoy doing during our visits that now require a passport," said Lapointe. "I would strongly recommend that they come to visit me instead."

Twitter is also full of questions and comments from people who want to know what the passport means for visitors to Quebec so they can cancel trips, flights and hotels if need be.

A waiting game

According to Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, the government is working on a plan to provide access to vaccinated people from out-of-province. He said more information on the vaccine passport will be announced during the week of August 23.

In the meantime, there's nothing to do but wait— a feeling Diodato said many have grown accustomed to during the pandemic.

"It's the uncertainty that stresses people out [...] because they don't know. Like, in the past, when there were different restrictions, you would never know what they are because it changes on a daily basis," Diodato said.

"We kind of just need information and we're, like, logged into our phones or our computers, constantly trying to get me a little bit of information through all the nonsense that people are writing... cause there's a lot of that."