A far-remote Canadian municipality has imposed mandatory QR codes for people to enter and exit. Yes! you heard it right, the decision was taken by a local body government of Îles-de-la-Madeleine island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Prior to this, the visitors to the archipelago in Quebec province were asked to pay a $30 fee as well, as per reports. Residents of Îles-de-la-Madeleine have been expressing their anger on social media and some of them even dubbed the move as the “very first QR Code prison of Canada.” However, it is to be added that these codes only apply to tourists entering and exiting the island contrary to the claims made online.

With this, the Canadian township Îles-de-la-Madeleine has reportedly become the first country in the world to make QR codes mandatory for visitors. Residents of the remote island won’t have to go through the QR code sign-up protocol but would need to present their drivers’ license as a proof. Notably, the municipality has a population of 12,000 people and is the first in Canada as well to bring QR codes for visitors’ entry or exit.

The decision to impose a mandatory QR code has not gone well with the residents of the municipality, who have launched an online campaign asking fellow Canadians to oppose it. Many of them didn’t like the change and that these QR codes would “sweep the nation,” if citizens didn’t take a stand. To address such concerns, according to a report by The Counter Signal, an official said that the QR codes were necessary for visitors to leave after paying the mandatory charges.

The report added that the scheme was initially intended for residents too. After they opposed the QR codes and refused to comply with them, the decision was confined to merely tourists. Several videos of the residents as well as one particular from an unidentified assembly of people purportedly discussing the impact of QR codes have gone viral on social media.

Some users on X even claimed that the move only applies to those tourists exiting the island. TimesNow does not verify the authenticity of the information and merely reports the set of events after the news of QR codes being implemented in Îles-de-la-Madeleine broke out.