Saskatchewan’s vaccine passport system will end midnight Sunday, making the western province the first in Canada to announce an end to the most restrictive public-health measure adopted to contain COVID-19.
Premier Scott Moe said mandatory indoor masking will remain in place until the end of the month. He called on residents to “heal divisions” created over the vaccine passport system, which he said “effectively created two classes” of citizens.
“I knew that this policy would create deep divisions,” Mr. Moe said in a news conference Tuesday morning. Saskatchewan introduced the system in September, when the Delta variant ripped through the province. Mr. Moe argued the program’s benefits no longer outweigh the costs when it comes to the Omicron strain.
“This policy has run its course,” he said.