Beginning Nov. 1, all city employees and city contractors will have to show proof of vaccination or show negative COVID-19 test result to come to work. 

The vaccination policy was passed by city council 5-1 on Tuesday night with Coun. Kim Robinson opposed. 

City manager Jim Puffalt said policies like this are being looked at by cities across the province. 

“In fact, 13 of the 15 cities are putting together a similar type of policy for council’s consideration, and some of them are working under the city manager bylaw. In my opinion, this was something I wanted to bring before council because there are pretty major impacts upon employees and contractors,” he said 

Employees will have to option of disclosing to their supervisor that they are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, not vaccinated or not disclose vaccination status. 

Those that chose not to be vaccinated or not disclose vaccination status will be subject to weekly COVID-19 testing. The city will pay for the tests for the employee. 

The original policy that came before council was the tests would be at the employee’s own time and expense, but that changed when Acting mayor Dawn Luhning made a motion that passed that the city pays for the testing until Dec. 31 as those who could not afford to pay for testing weekly would be forced to get vaccinated whether they wanted to or not. 

Puffalt said the policy is to not mandate vaccinations. 

“The power of the government and the power that the government has given to the cities to enact if they choose to, is that you must show a proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test, and so the intent is never to force people into getting vaccinated,” Puffalt said.  

“If you can't for whatever reason, if there's a medical exemption, that's a whole different story. If you choose not to, that's a whole different story. In those cases, we're not saying to anybody you need to get vaccinated because again, it’s not within our power. We're saying you need to provide us with a weekly negative test that you're free of COVID-19 to be able to come to work.” 

After Dec. 31, the city will revisit paying for COVID-19 tests and adjust as the circumstances need. 

“Until we know a little bit more about how this is going to fall out in the next 30 days or 60 days, or where we're going to be at December 31st or where we're going to be at March 31st. Let's be honest, I was one of those people that we're hoping we were going to be out of this beginning of July,” Luhning said. 

Those partially vaccinated will need weekly test results until 14 days after their second dose. 

The city is asking those with contracts with the city to have measures in place to verify the vaccination status of its personnel. 

Personnel that are not vaccinated or have not disclosed their vaccination status will have subject to weekly testing outlined between the city and the contractor. The policy did not outline that the city would pay for the testing. 

“It's very common around the province at this point in time for contractors, whether your contractor with SaskEnergy, SaskPower, Transgas, Graham, Ledcor, the list goes on and on. It's very common,” explained Coun. Jamey Logan. 

Robinson was also very much against the policies, saying that the city is overreaching its boundaries. 

“I think that we're changing conditions of employment. I think we're very close to infringing on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada. I think we can all agree here that we've heard stories that vaccinated people are getting sick and vaccinated people are transferring the virus,” he said. 

Robinson initially put forward motions to deny the employee and contractor policies, but those motions were defeated. That led to some confusion as Puffalt was unsure where the negative motion meant that the policies were passed and Luhning was unsure if it could go to a revote if the same issue is being brought up. 

Acting city clerk Tracy Wittke clarified that section 25(3) of the Procedure Bylaw would allow a revote to approve the policy because it is a separate motion from what Robinson tried to pass. 

On October 1, the city put a proof of vaccination policy in place for members of the public that want to attend public meetings, including city council, and hearings.