BREAKING: Trudeau confirms 'national certification of vaccination status' for those who 'travel internationally'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau confirmed that the federal and provincial governments are working to create a "national certification of vaccination status" for those who "travel internationally," all but confirming that some sort of vaccine passport will exist.

The prime minister, who once called the idea of vaccine passports "divisive", said that the certification could come around by fall of this year.

The question came after an announcement by Minister Bill Blair that Canada would once again be extending its border closure with the US, noting that further announcements would be made on Monday, possibly to announce exceptions for those who are fully vaccinated.

Trudeau said, however, that before any international vaccine certification, that an app called ArriveCan would be used, where users can upload photos of their vaccination documentation.

"First of all, in the initial phase, we're going to be working with the ArriveCan app, in ways that people can upload an image of their paper proof of vaccination, or online proof of vaccination so that the border agents on their return to Canada can verify, indeed, that they are fully vaccinated.

"That's something that we'll have in place in the coming weeks so that people can have a few more options if they're fully vaccinated, this summer," he continued.

"But, for the fall, in the medium term, we're working with the provinces to establish a national certification of vaccination status that will be easily accepted around the world for people who need to travel internationally, and that will involve working together with the provinces, because the provinces, of course, have your health data and your vaccination status.

"We want to make sure that we're both protecting privacy, and protecting jurisdiction, but getting a clear federal notification that other countries can see that we have, that you've been fully vaccinated. So that's what we're working on for the medium term, but there is a solution for the coming weeks, through the ArriveCan app."