B.C. premier shifts responsibility for vaccination mandates for school staff to boards

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The responsibility hot potato for mandating school staff vaccinations continues as the premier says B.C. is not going to create a provincial regulation but insists separate decisions from 60 school boards are coming soon.

John Horgan says decisions like this land with school districts, adding “mandates are a last resort” since the vast majority of the population is vaccinated.

“We need to make sure that the province’s school districts, which are duly elected and have authority and responsibility when it comes to their staff, are all having a say in how we proceed,” he said.

Re mandatory school vax, why the province hasn’t stepped in when ultimately the buck stops with him. @jjhorgan says “We are doing it,” but have to respect jurisdiction here saying diff regions need different things (don’t we *all* need vaccines?)#bcpoli @NEWS1130 @CityNewsVAN

— LizaYuzda (@LizaYuzda) October 7, 2021

Horgan says he is “very cognizant of the notion of 60 separate decisions here” but emphasizes he trusts hearing from stakeholders, teachers, the BC Teachers Federation and CUPE workers — which is the union representing more than 100,000 workers in the province — who have all said they would support a mandate.

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Horgan adds vaccines are the best protection against COVID-19 for everyone, regardless of where they are located.

Once school districts make their own calls on vaccines, Horgan says the province is ready to work with them, “making sure that we can continue to reduce outbreaks, continue to reduce exposures, and get this thing behind us once and for all.”

He says all the health and data information that boards need to make a decision is available to them.

‘They can mandate vaccines if they want to’

Hamish Telford, who teaches political science at the University of the Fraser Valley, says a province-wide proof of vaccination mandate is pretty easy to implement, but he’s not surprised Premier Horgan is reluctant to take ownership of it.

“We have seen, particularly in B.C., that we have tried to take a relatively soft touch. Do the minimum necessary, ensuring that the hospital system doesn’t become overburdened and collapse. They only take action when they are forced to do it. They’ve become reactive to the situation rather than proactive, but I think public opinion’s there for this. They just … seemingly don’t want to act until they absolutely have to,” he told NEWS 1130.

Telford adds other provinces have already taken this step and California’s gone as far as mandating vaccines for all students old enough to get vaccinated.

Telford argues the province placing the decision on school boards “is more political rather than legal.”

“I think there might be two things going on here. On the one hand, they are trying to assess which conflict is greater? Being on the one side, sort of engaging the anti-vaxxers, who we have seen have been quite vociferous, versus the rest of the public who have views on this, but not as vociferous. So that might be part of the calculation. The other issue, of course … is what do you do with recalcitrant members who refuse to get vaccinated?”

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Earlier this week, the Trudeau Liberals brought in mandatory vaccination requirements for federally regulated workers. Trudeau said if public servants still refuse to get vaccinated by Nov. 15 they will be placed on unpaid leave until they can prove their vaccination status has changed. But Telford points out this ultimatum is not an option for the province.

“That creates problems in the education system, because if you’re sending teachers home, you might just run out of teachers,” he said. “What do you do, then? Of course, we do have lots of on-call teachers, and we might be able to call in some retired teachers to fill in. But it could create a significant gap in the education system, particularly in some regions where we know there are low vaccine rates, like in the north.”

However, Telford says it’s just a matter of time until this decision comes down.

“If when vaccines were introduced last spring, the government said, ‘Right, everybody has to get one. You need one to go to work. You need one to go to the shopping mall. You need one to go to the restaurant –to go skiing, there would have been a huge public backlash. By this point, we’ve seen that the vaccines work and we are still at risk of lockdown because of a recalcitrant few, public opinion is there now to support vaccine mandates.”

The associate professor also hopes proof of vaccination soon becomes mandatory at all post-secondary institutions including the one where he’s currently teaching only one three-hour lecture in person.

UPDATE: We've reached out to @bctf President @TeriMooring, but @NEWS1130 has been told she's not available today.

This, as union leaders figure out next steps.

Mooring has repeatedly said the #BCTF does NOT oppose making proof of vaccination mandatory.#bced #bcpoli #COVID19 https://t.co/LTLOw6yYaE

— Marcella Bernardo (@MBernardoNews) October 7, 2021

NEWS 1130 has reached out for reaction from the BC Teachers Federation, but has been told President Teri Mooring is not available until Friday.