A significant amount of workers inside the Thunder Bay Correctional Centre have had both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I know the jail is fairly high too,” explains Shawn Bradshaw, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union representative for local corrections workers and confirms. “There are some that are choosing not to vaccinate and that is their choice and we’ll support them however we can, though we do encourage members to vaccinate. Coming up shortly, unvaccinated members will have to test every 48 hours.”
Back on October 6th, Ottawa expanded the vaccine policies, which included a mandate for federal workers and for those travelling by train or plane. Bradshaw notes because they fall under provincial jurisdiction, his workers have a different deadline.
Currently, every employee has to take a COVID-19 questionnaire regardless of their vaccine status upon entry, along with a temperature check.
The facility is also in the process of acquiring employee vaccination statuses, with unvaccinated individuals soon having to submit to regular testing.
