in a written statement to the star, windsor mayor drew dilkens, chair of the windsor police services board, said the service has a policy regarding covid-19 vaccinations. dilkens has previously said that policy is reviewed by the board every 13 weeks.
“(the board) is awaiting staff recommendations to determine if or how this policy should be amended, going forward,” dilkens wrote. “our goal has always been to create a safe and healthy workplace for windsor police and to ensure that the public they interact (with) are protected as well.”
mark baxter, president of the ontario police association, told the star he thinks it’s hypocritical of the mayor to push for the removal of vaccination requirements at canada’s border — dilkens called on the federal government to eliminate the arrivecan app to revive cross-border tourism earlier this month — but not lift the requirement for police.
“our members have a very difficult job to do. they want to be at work and they want to be protecting their communities,” baxter said. “they can’t do that when they’re at home.”
most other police services in ontario previously adopted a vaccine policy that allowed unvaccinated members to continue working as long as they agreed to once- or twice-weekly covid-19 testing, he said. toronto, windsor, stratford, and a few other police services opted instead to make vaccination mandatory. the toronto police service ended its mandatory vaccine policy at the start of this month.