Border officers eager to roll up their sleeves
First responders and correctional facilities staff are among front-line priority workers eligible to receive vaccine
The union representing border officers at the Peace Bridge is calling on the government and public health authority to ensure workers with Canada Border Services Agency are prioritized alongside other essential front-line workers as part of Ontario’s ongoing vaccination efforts.
“The conditions that we are continuously working under put us at greater risk of contracting COVID-19,” said Gus Kontogianis, president of Local 23 of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents about 290 members at the Fort Erie-Buffalo, N.Y., border crossing.
Under Ontario’s current immunization plan, first responders and correctional facilities staff are among front-line priority workers eligible to receive the vaccine in the coming weeks.
Border services employees have not been specifically mentioned.
“We just want to be vaccinated so we can continue, in a safe manner, to do the job that we have been doing all along, which is to protect Canada’s borders and keep Canadians safe,” Kontogianis said.
He said the number of commercial trucks crossing the
Peace Bridge has been at prepandemic levels since last summer, with motorists arriving at the border crossing from major COVID-19 hot spots across the United States.
Every driver must be processed and screened for the coronavirus, and all shipments must be examined.
“More and more people are arriving at our airports and land borders who are COVID-positive,” Kontogianis said, adding “hundreds” of CBSA officers have contracted the virus since the pandemic began.
Border services officers are scheduled to receive the vaccine at the same time as other front-line essential workers across the country who cannot perform their work virtually and have direct close physical contact with the public, said CBSA media spokesperson Jacqueline Callin.
“The health and safety of the travelling public and CBSA employees is of utmost importance to the agency,” she said.
Dr. Mustafa Hirji, Niagara’s acting medical officer of health, expects border services officers will be vaccinated in the coming weeks as provincial prioritization for vaccinations are frontline workers who cannot work from home.
“It’s not going to be too far longer,” he said. “It’s just that they’re not the very top priority who are being vaccinated right now.
“There are a lot of different groups out there who feel they are at risk, and I think they all are legitimately at some risk, and all want to get vaccine earlier.”
The top priority right now, Hirji said, is farm workers and education workers.