Grocery shopping in Canada is possible without COVID-19 vaccination

A Facebook video viewed by tens of thousands of people suggested that some Canadians are prohibited from securing food unless they have been vaccinated.

“Canada joins the no jab, no food trend,” read the caption next to the hour-long Facebook live video in which a woman decried restrictions meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.

She said people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 cannot shop for groceries:”Now they have this headline, right: ‘No jab, no food.’ Can you imagine the terror of tyranny?”

The video was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The claim misrepresents a new policy enacted in just one Canadian province that allows business and retail, including grocery stores, the option of requiring proof of vaccination when physical distancing of 2 meters is not possible inside a store. The policy does not require any retail store to ask for proof of vaccination. It also does not preclude people who are unvaccinated from shopping for food in that province or the rest of the country.

Beginning at the 37:31 mark in the Facebook video, the woman read a headline that said in the province of New Brunswick, grocery stores can ban unvaccinated shoppers — though the woman referred to unvaccinated people as “unhexxed.” (PolitiFact has reported that some social media users are relying on coded language to escape detection by platform moderators on the lookout for misinformation about COVID-19.)

“This is a new provision, put into place as of yesterday in New Brunswick,” the woman said to the camera. “It’s become the first Canadian province to allow the banning of unhexxed shoppers. Can you believe that? So now the tyranny is, and this fascist f—king reality is, that if these citizens do not comply with the death hex rules and regulations and get their jabs, get their boosters, have 100% proof that they are good obedient little sheep people … they can’t shop for groceries.”

Here’s the reality: Under New Brunswick’s new COVID-19 Winter Action Plan to limit the seasonal spread of the virus, stores have the option to either enforce physical distancing — through measures such as one-way aisles and limiting the number of customers in stores — or require proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

Stores “have the option of requiring proof of vaccination from all patrons, but we will leave that decision up to individual businesses,” New Brunswick Health Minister Dorothy Shephard told CBC News.

The province’s public health agency said that major retailers in the province “plan to enforce physical distancing instead of starting to require proof of COVID-19 vaccination,” CBC News reported.

Sobeys, one of only two national grocery retailers in Canada, said it will not be asking customers for proof of vaccination, a spokesperson told CBC News.

Our ruling

A caption on a Facebook video said, ‘Canada joins the no jab, no food trend’ and the video went on to say people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 cannot grocery shop in Canada.

That’s inaccurate. The province of New Brunswick in Canada gave retail and grocery stores the option to either enforce physical distancing or require proof of vaccination against COVID-19. Grocery stores are not required to ask for proof of vaccination.

One of two national grocery retailers in Canada said it would not ask shoppers for proof of vaccination.

The claim contains an element of truth but is lacking important context that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.