The federal government is winding down some COVID-19 border measures for travellers arriving in Canada — but top public health officials said the government isn’t budging when it comes to masking on planes and vaccine mandates for domestic travel.
Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to provide a quarantine plan upon entry, and unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children aged five to 11 who are accompanied by a fully vaccinated parent or guardian will no longer have to undergo a COVID-19 test for entry to Canada.
“The health and safety of Canadians remains our top priority and as vaccination levels and health care system capacity improve, we will continue to consider further easing of measures at the borders based on science,” Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said in the release.
A number of other measures will also be eliminated next week. The government will no longer require fully-vaccinated travellers to mask in public spaces for 14 days following arrival, or to maintain a list of close contacts and locations visited.
But while the government is pulling back on some measures, it’s standing firm on others, such as mandatory masking on planes and trains.
“Although some restrictions may be easing, air and rail travellers are reminded that they are still required to wear a mask throughout their travel journey,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said in the release.
“Wearing a mask offers an extra layer of protection for you and your fellow travellers, and will help keep Canadians, workers and our transportation system safe.”
WATCH | Public health officials say mask mandates will stay in place for travel
Public health officials say mask mandates will stay in place for travel
5 hours ago
Duration 1:07
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam says officials will continue to monitor the pandemic and mask mandates will remain in place for travel for the time being. 1:07
In a COVID-19 update Friday, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam said she approves of maintaining the masking requirement for planes — at least for now.
While masks may be inconvenient, she said, they’re an additional layer of protection while travelling and do not restrict travel.
“If you’re going to be travelling with people in a certain environment, I think it is prudent to continue to require wearing a mask,” she said.
“So I think it’s one of the least intrusive measures, but adds, definitely, another layer of protection.”
The government also has no plans to end vaccine mandates for travellers.
Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo said vaccination remains the best protection against the virus.
“At the end of the day, I think everyone is in agreement that vaccines are still our major tool, a major layer of protection,” he said.
Canada’s Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo says vaccines are still key to being able to travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. 1:36
Njoo also said that while certain border measures are easing, it’s important to maintain the infrastructure which helped health officials test and screen travellers for the virus.
“[If] COVID-19 takes a turn for the worst and we need to readjust and go back to a different regime, maybe similar to what we might have had before, we’re ready to do that,” he said.
The United States government extended a rule today that says non-U.S. citizens crossing land or ferry terminals at U.S.-Canada borders must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Hospitalization rate seems manageable, Tam says
Tam said that although there were signs of COVID-19 nearing a peak in some jurisdictions across Canada prior to the Easter holiday, the Omicron variant’s virulence creates uncertainty.
“It is still too soon to tell whether our long weekend activities could lead to another bump ahead,” she said.
While Tam says there’s been an increase in hospitalization, severe cases are still relatively rare.
“Although concerning, the recent rise of hospitalization rates in several jurisdictions appears to be manageable, with critical care still trending at low levels,” she said.
“We remain hopeful that the increase in transmission rates over the last several weeks will not result in as heavy an impact on hospitalizations trends as seen during earlier waves.”
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.
