Ontario Strengthening Proof of Vaccination Requirements

• The province will be delaying the lifting of proof of vaccination requirements beyond January 17, 2022 as the province continues to monitor public health trends.
• Effective January 4, 2022, Ontario will begin requiring the use of the enhanced vaccine certificate with QR code and the Verify Ontario app in settings where proof of vaccination is required.
• Starting on December 15, 2021, Ontario will begin a new process to provide an enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificate with QR code for individuals who have an eligible medical exemption or are participating in an active, Health Canada Approved COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial.
• Medical exemptions issued outside of Ontario are not eligible for an enhanced vaccine certificate. This new process will help combat fraud, offer greater protection of personal health information, and ease burden on businesses.
• Organizations and businesses that are required to take part in Ontario’s proof-of-vaccination system will be advised to longer accept physician notes beginning January 10, 2022.
• Employers are advised to allow their employees to work from home whenever possible.

Read the full Backgrounder HERE. 

The OMA reached out to the Department of Canadian Heritage with your questions about the Reopening Fund for Heritage Organizations - Museums Assistance Program (MAP) funding notifications.

The following response was provided by Canadian Heritage staff:

“The service standard for a decision for Reopening is within 8 to 10 weeks of submitting a complete application. We may not meet this standard, depending on your date of application. We are seeing approvals starting to flow for those who applied in late August/September, and approvals will continue into the new year. Thank you for your patience as we attempt to process applications from multiple deadlines at the same time.”

We hope this provides some useful information. If you have questions about the specifics of your application, please reach out to your regional MAP contact.