(NCPR) Canada is dropping all COVID-19-era restrictions for people entering the country by air, land, or sea.
Canadian health minister Jean-Yves Duclos made the announcement Monday morning.
"This includes the removal of all federal testing, quarantine, and isolation requirements, as well as the mandatory submission of health information in ArriveCAN," Duclos said.
Beginning October 1st, Americans entering Canada will no longer have to use the ArriveCAN app or provide proof of vaccination. Canada will also suspend random COVID-19 testing at the border. And it's dropping mask requirements on planes and trains.
Duclos said the changes don't mean Canada is declaring the pandemic over. But its data indicates domestic transmission is a bigger problem.
Canada imposed strict border-crossing restrictions in March 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic. It began reopening the border to non-essential travel in July 2021, but was requiring all travelers to register with the ArriveCAN app.
North Country lawmakers, who have worried for two years that cross-border travel restrictions were hurting the regional economy, applauded Monday's announcement. Congresswoman Elise Stefanik called the move "a critical step forward" to normalizing economic relations with Canada.
Political pressure grew to drop the COVID-19 rules
The ArriveCAN program app and website, which requires those entering Canada to enter information about their COVID-19 status and pre-select a port of entry, will become optional.
“The removal of border measures has been facilitated by a number of factors, including modeling that indicates that Canada has largely passed the peak of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 fuelled wave, Canada’s high vaccination rates, lower hospitalization and death rates, as well as the availability and use of vaccine boosters (including new bivalent formulation), rapid tests, and treatments for COVID-19,” reads a news release from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
The complete list of changes taking effect for travelers, effective October 1, 2022, is as follows:
- Submission of public health information through the ArriveCAN app or website;
- provide proof of vaccination;
- undergo pre- or on-arrival testing;
- carry out COVID-19-related quarantine or isolation;
- monitor and report if they develop signs or symptoms of COVID-19 upon arriving to Canada.
Transport Canada is also removing existing travel requirements. As of October 1, 2022, travelers will no longer be required to:
- undergo health checks for travel on air and rail; or
- wear masks on planes and trains.
The long-term effectiveness of Canada’s COVID-19 border measures has been repeatedly questioned and criticized. On September 20, a group of mayors of Canadian border cities and Members of Parliament from border districts issued an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden requesting an end to all COVID-19-related border restrictions.
Canadian Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra regularly defended ArriveCAN, saying it made border operations go more efficiently. However, ArriveCAN was routinely criticized as one of the causes of delays at Canadian airports. Alghabra even hinted ArriveCAN could become permanent.
Political pressure in Ottawa to remove the restrictions has been increasing in recent weeks. When Pierre Poilievre became the new Leader of the Official Opposition Conservative Party on September 10, he heavily criticized the restrictions in his victory speech and said if he becomes Prime Minister, his government would discontinue ArriveCAN entirely.
