Just across the U.S. border in the Canadian province of Quebec, a vaccine-passport system, which originally took effect on September 1, 2021, is being enforced in a manner that echoes back to the worst days of any totalitarian system you can think of. Among the newest restrictions are rules blocking entrance to retail spaces larger than 1,500 square meters (around 16,000 square feet) for people who have chosen not to receive one of the experimental COVID-19 vaccines.
In large retail spaces such as Walmart or Costco, unvaccinated persons must be escorted by store personnel in order to purchase food or pharmacy items. The escorts are tasked with the mission of keeping the unvaccinated out of other departments.
The new rule for big box stores is intended, according to the CBC, “to make sure they [the unvaccinated] do not go and buy other products or other items that might be in the store.”
Twitter user NAKED FACE posted a picture of tiny plexiglass waiting areas, where unvaccinated persons must wait for an escort prior to being allowed into a store.
“These little plexiglass prisons inside the Quebec Walmarts are where they confine the unvaccinated while they wait for a security escort which will follow them around to make sure they aren’t putting any non-pharmaceutical items their cart,” NAKED FACE wrote.
Twitter user and anti-authoritarian activist Colin Korol commented on the situation: “So, if you’re unvaccinated in Quebec and walk into big box store you will need to be accompanied by an employee who will make sure you’re not there to buy socks or a toaster oven.”
If you’re unvaccinated and really need new underwear in Montreal or Quebec City, you’re out of luck unless you can find a retailer under 1,500 square meters that sells that item.
The list of where vaccine passports are required is long, and includes hospitals and rehabilitation facilities, senior residences, outdoor recreational activities including skiing and sledding, racket sports such as tennis when played in doubles, combat sports including boxing and MMA, outdoor events and festivals, performance venues and movie theaters, and bars and restaurants.
And the list just continues to grow, seemingly at the whim of Quebec Premier François Legault and his advisors.
When the vaccine passport was set to be originally implemented last summer, opposition parties begged Legault for some debate on the issue and for the opportunity to question experts about it. Legault’s answer, in a word, was no, claiming that he had all the authority he needed to implement the system.
“The fact is, we are in a health emergency,” Legault said at the time. “Yes, we gave ourselves special powers, but I don’t think we abused them. I think Quebecers are satisfied.”
Earlier this month, Quebec added liquor and cannabis stores to the list of places where vaccine passports were required in order to purchase items. In making the announcement about the liquor and cannabis stores, Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé made clear that it was Quebec’s policy to make life difficult for people who choose not to get the experimental vaccines. Dubé also said that the government fully intends to treat the unvaccinated like children.
“Let me be very clear, if they can’t protect themselves, we will protect them against themselves,” Dubé said. “And we will make sure that they understand very clearly that if they don’t want to be vaccinated, they just stay home.”
Montreal-based YouTube personality and former attorney Viva Frei made a video showing just how the new restrictions work in real life. Frei went into a number of businesses and was either turned away for not showing his vaccine passport, or in the case of the Walmart he visited, needed to be chaperoned to the pharmacy in the store.
“This is Quebec, 2022 under Supreme Leader François Legault,” a visibly angry Frei noted, as he showed an indoor mall with stores smaller than 1,500 square meters not yet requiring the vaccine passport standing next to stores larger than 1,500 square meters, which would not allow shoppers in without the passport.
Frei believes that Legault is slowly adding to the number of places required to show a vaccine passport until necessary things such as grocery stores are included as well. “I suspect that this is just trickle, trickle and eventually, it’s going to apply to under 1500 square meters.”
“They call people conspiracy theorists who think that we’re one step away from a biometric society where food is … conditioned on certain things,” the former attorney noted.
It’s funny how yesterday’s “conspiracy theories” have a way of becoming simply the way life is, right before our eyes.
