The Canada Employment and Immigration Union (CEIU) may be filing a formal labour-code complaint against a federal department for not consulting them before the mask requirement for in-person visitors to Service Canada locations was recently dropped. Social Development Minister Karina Gould informed the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources on Feb. 14 that the mandate has been dropped. Crystal Warner, the national executive vice president of CEIU, stated that the union had recently been assured by senior management of Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) that the mask mandate would stay in place, and that they were not informed of the recent decision. Warner also wrote a letter to Gould and Tremblay on Feb. 16, requesting that the removal of the mask mandate be postponed. The Epoch Times contacted ESDC for comment, but did not receive a response. Service Canada’s website still states that visitors must wear a face mask, despite Gould and Tremblay’s statements. Health Canada announced in May 2022 that federal mask mandates were lifted for public servants, while cabinet suspended enforcement of its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements in October. All provinces dropped their mask mandates last year.
Union to file complaint against federal department for not consulting on mask mandate removal.
