Maple Leaf to require Covid vaccine for entry by March

Maple Leaf will require all employees, contractors and suppliers to prove they are vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter its facilities after March 31, 2022.

“We continue to make the safety of our team members our priority,” said Kristie Syndikus, vice president of procurement, in a letter sent to suppliers and contractors Dec. 13.

In the letter, obtained by the Co-operator, Syndikus said all suppliers, contractors and visitors to Maple Leaf Foods facilities or affiliate companies would need to show proof of vaccination. She added other safety measures like COVID screening and temperature checks would be in place.

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Maple Leaf spokeswoman Janet Riley told the Co-operator that company employees were also required to be vaccinated. Those who aren’t vaccinated by the end of March would be placed on unpaid leave.

The mandate extends to hog barns owned and operated by Maple Leaf, but not to contract or independent producers who sell to Maple Leaf Riley said.

The company gave extended notice to contractors and suppliers in case any needed to make arrangements for vaccinations, Riley said.

“We hope that people who are not yet vaccinated will get vaccinated as soon as possible,” she said.

Riley added that Maple Leaf has encouraged its employees to be vaccinated as soon as possible, and has hosted vaccine clinics at many of its sites.

Meat processing plants across Canada were sites of several COVID-19 outbreaks in 2020.

In summer of 2020, Maple Leaf Foods’ facility in Brandon saw an outbreak of around 75 cases, which required at least 300 employees to self-isolate. No worker deaths were reported. 

There was another small cluster of cases at the facility in May, 2021 that was not declared an outbreak according to a report from the Brandon Sun.

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