Windsor council considering ‘matching and mirroring’ Toronto’s mandatory vaccination policy for all city staff

Windsor, Ont. -

A day after the City of Toronto announced mandatory vaccinations for all municipal employees, the conversations in Windsor are picking up steam.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens says council will meet Monday in-camera to discuss the issue.

“I would expect that we are tracking very quickly towards matching and mirroring what’s happening at the federal level, the provincial level and at other municipalities across the country,” says Dilkens, who says the decision will ultimately lie with council.

“I’m not going to make this decision,” he says. “I want council to be behind it.”

In Toronto, Mayor John Tory announced all city staff will be required to be fully vaccinated against the disease by Oct. 30.

Dilkens says the conversations are already taking place at a high level and will likely evolve over the coming week.

“I think you have a lot of the majority of folks who are being vaccinated who do not want to be held back, that this was not an effort in vain,” Dilkens tells CTV Windsor. “The way to do that is to try to apply as much common sense pressure on individuals who are on the sideline to get the vaccine or get tested. One way or another, there’s got to be some obligation to get us all over this collective hump together.”

The mayor acknowledges it’s not a decision to me made abruptly, but says time is of the essence, with the rising case counts and the prevalence of the more highly contagious Delta Variant.

He also acknowledges a system would have to be put into place to manage any mandatory vaccine program that will ensure effectiveness.

“It’s not a simple thing where you can just make a decree and it’s done. There has to be many processes put in place to make sure it’s effective,” Dilkens says.

It’s a conversation Windsor’s medical officer of health is fully behind.

“I think that’s definitely a great move and we know that vaccination is the number one defence you can have against COVID-19,” says Dr. Wajid Ahmed.

“Having a much broader policy that is everywhere, it just makes it easy from an implementation perspective, from a safety perspective. And I truly want to support everyone who is moving in that direction, because it’s the right thing to do.”

Union leadership at CUPE 543, CUPE 82, The Windsor Police Association and The Windsor Professional Firefighters Association are also actively engaging with members and speaking with provincial and federal union leadership about what the next steps might look like.

“There are members, and it’s a good percentage, that are absolutely against the vaccination and they’re entitled to their opinion. And they’ve made it crystal clear they have a personal choice,” says CUPE local 82 president Rob Kolody. “It may be a minority, but we do have an obligation to fight for that. And their rights are as important as everyone else’s.”

Kolody says in the meantime, respecting each other’s opinions on the matter is key as divisiveness will not be helpful in establishing a policy or framework that will respect people’s rights and collective agreements.

“There’s going to be members that actually believe there should be a mandated vaccination,” he says, noting a system could be developed that puts safeguards in place without mandating vaccines and removing personal choice from individuals. “But we will see what the powers to be will make that decision.”

The Windsor Police Association (WPA) is expecting a mandate will be put into place but has received no direction from the service or city.

“It’s definitely a balancing act and we need to be part of the conversation,” says WPA president, Shawn McCurdy.

Dr. Ahmed recognizes there will be push back from employees who feel it’s their right to choose.

“I truly hope that people understand that there are certain obligations. You can have you own personal choice, but when you’re talking about your own choice impacting others, you have to take consideration,” Dr. Ahmed says. “You can not do that and put others at risk.”