Unvaccinated family members living in different countries such as the USA and Canada have not been able to see each other for over two years now because of COVID-19 travel restrictions. The same is now true for family members on opposite sides of Canada due to domestic flight restrictions. Even as COVID-19 cases have dropped, vaccine effectiveness at reducing virus transmission has waned, and the severity of newer variants of COVID-19 has gone down, these families are still separated with no way to see each other unless they are willing to sacrifice their bodily sovereignty by undergoing a medical procedure that for whatever reason, they are strongly opposed to. This petition proposes a simple solution: Allow proof of a negative COVID-19 test result for travel as an alternative to requiring proof of vaccination status.

It is not the goal of this petition to make an argument for why an individual should have the right to choose whether to get vaccinated or not. There are many diverse reasons why different people choose not to get vaccinated. This petition calls upon lawmakers in both the USA and Canada to acknowledge the ethical non-triviality of this problem and look for opportunities to make reasonable accommodations for the diversity of views amongst our populations when doing so would not unduly impact public safety.

The USA still requires proof of vaccination status in order for non-citizens to enter. Canada is the same, and even if you are a Canadian citizen, you are required to quarantine for 2 weeks upon entering. Consider the example of an unvaccinated dual citizen living in the USA who is not able to visit Canada to see his relatives there without having to quarantine when he arrives. Meanwhile, his unvaccinated relatives who are not US citizens cannot visit him either. What if he is getting married and his Canadian family have no way to attend his wedding? Consider that he might have children who have not seen their grandparents for over two years and counting. What if one of his parents had a medical emergency and he had no way to be with them in their last moments, or attend their funeral?

What if we could put aside our differences and remember that we are all human and we all have the same basic needs? We all just want to be free to live according to our own self-determined values and beliefs. Can we find it in our hearts to make just a little bit of room for the fact that sometimes, we may see things differently? It is possible that everything might turn out just fine if we allow a bit of wiggle room for diversity? That is all this petition is asking for.

Allowing proof of a negative COVID-19 test result as an alternative to requiring proof of vaccination is a reasonable compromise to accommodate the lives of these individuals. This solution would not increase the risk to public safety by any significant measure, if you consider that vaccines have limited effectiveness in preventing the transmission of newer variants of COVID-19 anyways. The justification for severely limiting the freedoms of unvaccinated individuals with mandates is making less and less logical sense under these evolving circumstances, and the division that this issue has caused has already caused enough social damage, amplifying political polarization to a degree that it is threatening the very cohesion of our democracy.

Requiring a negative COVID-19 test result for travel instead of requiring proof of vaccination will allow families to be re-united. Please find it in your heart to consider making this change.