The Yukon government is finding out once again the devil is in the details when it comes to implementing promises it has made.

This time the devil is in how to administer the loosened health restrictions for travellers promised for May 25.

The government has said any Yukoner – and Canadian – who is fully vaccinated won’t have to serve out the 14-day self-isolation requirement to enter the territory if they can prove their status.

On Tuesday afternoon in the legislature, Health and Social Services Minister Tracy McPhee was under attack by the Yukon Party over the vaccine passports the government is working on.

Yukon Party Health critic Brad Cathers asked McPhee three times if the territory’s privacy commissioner had been consulted on the issue to confirm it would be legal to access Yukoners’ health records pertaining to vaccinations.

He said he suspected there could be legal problems with the concept of people signing a waiver to let government-approved workers examine their health records to a limited degree to confirm vaccination status.

Three times, McPhee did not provide a clear answer.

Later, as the minister talked to reporters, she finally acknowledged she had no knowledge as to whether Diane McLeod-McKay, the privacy commissioner had been involved in the discussions at all surrounding the vaccine passports.

“No, I haven’t spoken to the commissioner,” McPhee said when asked that directly.

She then added she had no idea whether any of her staff had contacted the commissioner for her thoughts on the situation.

“I have 2,200 people working in Health and Social Services,” McPhee said.

She added she believed her staff has more than enough expertise to evaluate the passports without input from the privacy commissioner’s office.

McPhee herself served as the commissioner for five years.

The process for any fully vaccinated Yukoners returning home is that they would provide some kind of paper documentation indicating they have been vaccinated and waited more than two weeks to travel after their last inoculation before they travelled.

To avoid having to self-isolate for 14 days, the card would be accepted as the first level of documentation.

Travellers would then be offered a waiver to sign that would allow electronic examination of their records at a later point to confirm their vaccination status.

They would also sign a declaration promising the information was true before going on their way.

The question also arose during this morning’s COVID-19 briefing.

Reporters intensely questioned the chief medical officer of health, Dr. Brendan Hanley, and Premier Sandy Silver on the subject. Again, there were few definitive answers.

Silver didn’t directly answer when asked why McLeod-McKay hadn’t been consulted.

He said he thought the people at his disposal had more than enough expertise and that the privacy commissioner could “check out the information” that’s been made available to the public” if she’s interested.

It was also unclear if the system for Yukoners will be fully operational by Tuesday, just after the Victoria Day long weekend, when the loosened health restrictions for travel kick in.

A CBC reporter asked if travellers will have to wait while their records are checked – or possibly self-isolate for a day or two until confirmation came in.

Hanley indicated that wouldn’t be the case, and suggested the information could be checked immediately for Yukoners.

British Columbia residents will also face fewer barriers, as there is better co-operation between the province and territory than other jurisdictions.

Silver said repeatedly that the process is still a work in progress – six days before the system is to be ready.

McPhee conceded the access to health records is a slight breach of health privacy. She said it’s not unlike what other countries do before they allow visitors in for other communicable diseases, such as yellow fever.

It’s not clear yet how the system would work to prevent someone with access to the system to further delve into private information.

When Cathers talked to reporters Tuesday, he said he found it very interesting that McPhee wouldn’t give him an answer on the issue when he had asked three times, but would provide reporters with a yes or no response.

He is still concerned about the failure to contact the privacy commissioner, saying he can’t understand why there was such reluctance.

Elaine Schiman, a spokesperson for the commissioner, said “the Yukon government has not included the Yukon Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) in any discussions on the planning for a certificate/passport/proof of COVID-19 vaccine.

“She can’t comment any further until she sees what the details of such a plan might be.”

In a joint statement this morning, privacy and information commissioners from across Canada said governments should approach the issue cautiously.

The statement read: “Privacy should be front and centre as governments and businesses consider COVID-19 vaccine passports as a tool to help Canadians return to normal life,” say Canada’s privacy guardians.

“Vaccine passports would allow people to travel and gather again and could support economic recovery while protecting public health.

“They would, however, require individuals to disclose personal health information about their vaccine or immunity status in exchange, potentially, for access to goods and services, for example, restaurants, sporting events and airline travel,” the statement added.

“While this may offer substantial public benefit, it is an encroachment on civil liberties that should be taken only after careful consideration,” federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners and the ombuds of Manitoba and New Brunswick said in a joint statement issued Wednesday.

“Vaccine passports must be developed and implemented in compliance with applicable privacy laws. They should also incorporate privacy best practices in order to achieve the highest level of privacy protection commensurate with the sensitivity of the personal health information that will be collected, used or disclosed,” the statement says.

It was endorsed during the annual meeting of federal, provincial and territorial access to information and privacy guardians. The Manitoba ombudsman hosted the meeting, which took place virtually, given the pandemic.

The officials said, “In light of the significant privacy risks involved, the necessity, effectiveness and proportionality of vaccine passports must be established for each specific context in which they will be used.

“In other words, vaccine passports need to be shown to be necessary to achieve the intended public health purpose; they need to be effective in meeting that purpose; and the privacy risks must be proportionate to the purpose, i.e. the minimum necessary to achieve it.

“Further, vaccine passports, whether introduced by governments or public bodies for public services, or by private organizations, need to have clear legal authority.

“In addition, organizations considering vaccine passports should consult with the privacy commissioners in their jurisdiction as part of the development process.”

The statement also notes that “any personal health information collected through vaccine passports should be destroyed and vaccine passports decommissioned when the pandemic is declared over by public health officials or when vaccine passports are determined not to be a necessary, effective or proportionate response to address their public health purposes.

“Vaccine passports should not be used for any purpose other than COVID-19.”