Canadians and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated are now able to enter the country without having to quarantine — provided they have proof of inoculation and have submitted a negative COVID-19 test.
This is the first phase of loosening the Canada-U.S. border restrictions that have been in place since March 2020.
But the first phase has been met with some confusion, including the rules around quarantining with children, digital proof of vaccination and whether non-essential travel is now allowed.
Here is everything you need to know before you head on a trip to the Canada-U.S. border.
What’s changed?
As of 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated are permitted to cross the border without having to quarantine or take the day eight COVID-19 test.
Eligible air travellers are also exempt from the requirement that they spend their first three days in Canada in a government-approved hotel.
Fully vaccinated travellers that arrived before 12:01 a.m. Monday are not eligible for testing and quarantine exemptions. This means that travellers who returned to Canada before Monday must complete their 14-day quarantine and day eight test.
1:57 Returning Canadian travellers encounter confusion with looser COVID-19 restrictions
Returning Canadian travellers encounter confusion with looser COVID-19 restrictions
How does it work?
In order to skip quarantine, travellers must:
Be fully vaccinated with one of the approved Health Canada shots: Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca.
Have received the last COVID-19 dose at least 14 days before coming to the border.
Submit a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours before coming to the border.
Upload the vaccine certificate and COVID-19 test information on the updated ArriveCAN app.
Take and pass a COVID-19 test upon arrival (you are allowed to go home and wait for the results).
What hasn’t changed?
Although fully vaccinated Canadians can skip quarantine, this is only for essential travel. The Canada Border Services Agency still strongly advises against non-essential travel (like shopping trips in the U.S.).
U.S. citizens heading to Canada by land for non-essential travel are not allowed to enter the country.
The U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Canada’s website lists reasons for essential travel as work, study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care and safety and security.
3:34 Cross border travel could soon return between Canada and the U.S.
Cross border travel could soon return between Canada and the U.S.
“The restrictions that have been in place since March of 2020 remain in place,” Denis Vinette, with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), said.
“So it’s important for individuals to know that if you haven’t been able to travel up until now and you weren’t able to travel and enter Canada on July 4th, that doesn’t change. On July 5th, those restrictions remain and you still can’t come into Canada. That’s for a future phase of the border reopening.”
There are no changes for unvaccinated or partially vaccinated Canadians. They are still subject to a 14-day quarantine and the mandatory three-night stay in a hotel if arriving by air. All testing requirements are also mandatory.
What about unvaccinated children?
The new border rules only apply for fully vaccinated Canadians. That means children under the age of 12, who aren’t yet eligible to receive a vaccine, still have to quarantine.
Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children arriving by air with fully vaccinated parents won’t have to go to quarantine hotels — they can stay home for two weeks. However, they must take a second COVID-19 test on their eighth day of isolation. The same rules apply for unvaccinated children crossing the land border.
5:48 Updated travel rules for fully vaccinated Canadians
Updated travel rules for fully vaccinated Canadians
Parents and siblings who are fully vaccinated are exempt from the quarantine requirement.
Health Canada authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 in May. Moderna’s approval for the same age group is pending, but no COVID-19 vaccine is yet authorized for kids younger than 12.
Why about fully vaccinated American citizens?
Fully vaccinated Americans hoping to come to Canada for non-essential travel are still unable to enter the country. It’s unclear when the federal government will allow U.S. citizens to enter the country.
The decision has drawn criticism from the business community and international trade experts.
Mark Warner, an international trade lawyer based in Toronto, said he does not “understand the basis for distinguishing between fully vaccinated Canadians who won’t have to quarantine and fully vaccinated Americans.”
“I say Americans because they’re using essentially the same vaccines approved by Health Canada. So that shouldn’t be controversial. I can understand perhaps other jurisdictions, maybe China, perhaps India. But I don’t get the case for Americans, particularly when it’s so important that we go back to being the world’s largest undefended border.”
What about paper documents?
The CBSA said travellers must use the ArriveCAN app or the website to log their vaccination details and COVID-19 test results prior to coming to the border.
The border agency said the app is mandatory for all travellers entering by land or air.
However, the CBSA said to bring paper documents just in case.
“We’ve asked individuals to travel with their paper evidence. We also understand in some jurisdictions there is actually an ‘E-version’ of their certificate so that it can be presented to the border services officer in some exceptional circumstances. There are some situations where we will be able to accept paper,” Vinette said.
1:27 Minister Bill Blair outlines updated requirements for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers at the border
Minister Bill Blair outlines updated requirements for fully vaccinated Canadian travellers at the border – Jun 21, 2021
He added that if a traveller does not have access to a smartphone or the internet, they should ask “family and friends to help you create the account and submit your information.”
If someone refuses to submit their information through the ArriveCAN app, the traveller will not be denied entry into Canada by land or boarding if arriving by air, according to the federal government website.
However, the traveller won’t be eligible for the fully vaccinated exemption, may face additional delays at the border for public health questioning and may be subject to fines or enforcement action, the website stated.
Use the updated ArriveCAN app
The ArriveCAN app was released to the public in April 2020 in order to create a secure and easy way for travellers to upload COVID-19 information.
But as of Monday at 12:01 a.m., there is an updated app to download, which is the version the CBSA requires for travellers.
The updated ArriveCAN app is now available to download on the Google Play Store and the App Store. It can also be accessed online through the federal government’s website at canada.ca.
Will border restrictions further loosen?
The mutual travel restrictions between Canada and the United States — which prohibit all discretionary travel between the two countries while continuing to allow the movement of trade, essential workers and international students — are due to expire July 21.
It’s not known if the feds will implement the restrictions for another month, as the federal government has yet to lay out a plan for a “phase 2 reopening.”
The feds previously stated the first phase is a “cautious first step” and announcements about the gradual border reopening plan will be made in the coming weeks.
4:04 Trudeau defends new COVID-19 border rules amid questions over who is permitted entry
Trudeau defends new COVID-19 border rules amid questions over who is permitted entry – Jun 22, 2021
“We are doing things gradually, but we are talking about weeks and not months anymore. We certainly hope we will have more good news about reopenings in the coming weeks,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa on June 22.
He did not give a specific date but said the announcement depends on vaccination rates, the number of COVID-19 cases and the variants circulating across the country.
For now, the new changes may add to wait times at the border in the days ahead as officials and travellers begin trying out these new measures, Vinette said.
“We might see as our officers begin to apply these new relief measures and as travellers arrive and are trying to comply with them, that there could be some impacts to the time it takes across the border,” he said.
“We invite people to be patient.”
–With files from The Canadian Press
2:24 Canadian travel restrictions ease for fully vaccinated passengers
Canadian travel restrictions ease for fully vaccinated passengers
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
