Incoming air travellers from all countries except the United States will be required to take COVID-19 tests when arriving in Canada, the federal government announced today.
The tests will be required of all travellers, regardless of their vaccination status, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said today. The requirement will also apply to Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
Incoming travellers will have to self-isolate until they receive results of the test.
Duclos said the new testing requirement will go into effect “as quickly and as much as possible over the next few days.”
The new measure is part of Canada’s rapidly evolving strategy to contain the spread of the omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.
The variant’s emergence last week has prompted the return of border closures, travel restrictions and stricter testing requirements across the world.
Canada will also extend travel restrictions to incoming travellers from three more countries: Egypt, Malawi and Nigeria. The government already had banned travellers from seven nations in southern Africa.
Incoming travellers from those 10 countries will have to quarantine in designated facilities, officials said. Other travellers will be allowed to quarantine at home or at other locations.
WATCH | Transport Minister Omar Alghabra on new travel restrictions
Federal government bans flights from Egypt, Malawi and Nigeria in response to omicron variant
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Transport Minister Omar Alghabra says the new restrictions will help counter the spread of the new COVID variant in Canada. 1:30
Provincial governments in Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia have confirmed local cases of the variant. Federal health officials say there are at least six cases of the variant in Canada so far.
“There will be, most likely, community transmission of the new variant at some point in Canada,” Duclos said.
Dr. Howard Njoo, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, described the travel restrictions as a temporary measure meant to help the government adapt.
“We can’t close down our borders,” Njoo said. “This is a measure to gain time, in order to have a better understanding of the virus.”
Government seeks ‘guidance’ on boosters
Duclos also announced today that the federal government has asked the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) to provide “quick guidance on whether we should revise national standards, national attitudes and actions on the use of boosters in Canada in the context of the new omicron variant.”
NACI currently recommends a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine for people deemed to be at high risk of waning protection against the disease, such as people 80 and older or those living in long-term care facilities.
Boosters are also available to other people considered to be high-risk, such as health care workers, Indigenous peoples and those who received the AstraZeneca or Janssen vaccines.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated earlier today that Canada is considering new measures to slow the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant — a strain that may be more infectious than previous versions of the virus.
Speaking briefly to reporters before meeting with his cabinet on Parliament Hill, Trudeau said the government is watching omicron “very, very closely.”
“We know that even though Canada has very strong border measures now — we need vaccinations to come to Canada, we need pre-departure tests, we need testing on arrival — there may be more we need to do and we’ll be looking at it very carefully,” Trudeau said.
It wasn’t immediately clear if Trudeau was suggesting that COVID-19 arrival tests would become the new norm for returning travellers. Some provincial premiers — such as Ontario’s Doug Ford — have been urging Ottawa to introduce point-of-arrival testing for all passengers arriving in Canada, regardless of where they’re coming from.
Starting today, Canada has dropped the pre-departure molecular testing requirement for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who take short trips across the Canada-U.S. border. If an eligible traveller is gone from Canada for less than 72 hours, a test is not required to re-enter Canada from the U.S. It is unclear if that more permissive approach will continue now that omicron is in circulation.
Large number of mutations
The omicron variant is notable because it has a large number of mutations, which may affect its transmissibility and the effect of COVID-19 vaccines.
In an interview with the U.K.-based Financial Times, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel predicted existing vaccines will be much less effective at tackling omicron.
“There is no world, I think, where [the effectiveness] is the same level … we had with [the] delta [variant],” Bancel said.
“I think it’s going to be a material drop. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to … are like, ‘This is not going to be good.'”
While Moderna’s leader is signalling concern about the effectiveness of vaccines against the omicron variant, the co-founder of BioNTech — the company that co-developed the Comirnaty vaccine with Pfizer — said today that while the new variant could lead to more infections, it’s likely that fully vaccinated people will still be protected from severe illness.
“Our message is, ‘Don’t freak out, the plan remains the same. Speed up the administration of a third booster shot,'” Ugur Sahin told the Wall Street Journal.
Vaccines teach the immune system — which includes both antibodies and T-cells — to recognize part of a virus. Antibodies prevent people from becoming infected in the first place. A T cell is a type of white blood cell that responds to viral infections and boosts the immune function of other cells. While omicron may evade vaccine-induced antibodies, Sahin said that no variant has so far eluded that T-cell immune response.
Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist and researcher based at Toronto General Hospital, said Canadians shouldn’t hang on every word coming from a vaccine company’s CEO.
“I want to hear from the scientists doing the actual studies, what they think and what they’re seeing,” Bogoch said, adding there will be much more clarity about vaccine efficacy in the weeks ahead.
WATCH: Will our coronavirus vaccines protect us against the new variant?
Will our coronavirus vaccines protect us against the new variant?
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Infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch responds to conflicting statements regarding the effectiveness of current coronavirus vaccines against the omicron variant. 2:16
While conceding he’s just speculating as laboratory studies continue, Bogoch said he thinks available vaccines will still prove useful in the fight against COVID-19.
“It would be extremely unusual for a variant to emerge that completely erases the protective immunity of vaccines,” he said. “It might chip away at some of the effectiveness but it would be extremely unusual that our vaccines, and or vaccine programs, are now rendered useless.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh called on Trudeau to take a position on waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines so that more countries can produce vaccines like the Pfizer and Moderna locally.
“It’s not enough for us to support Canadians and do our part here in Canada. We also have to help countries around the world, and those particularly that have less means to purchase vaccines,” Singh said.
The NDP leader said protecting pharmaceutical companies’ profits can’t take precedence over the goal of getting everyone vaccinated. Canada, he said, should be pushing this idea with urgency.
WATCH: Singh calls for changes to vaccine patent laws
Singh says Canada needs to allow vaccine patents to be public
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NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says Canada needs to make vaccine patents public, or COVID-19 will continue to be a global issue. 1:04
While some Western countries have signalled they’re open to discussing IP waivers, industry experts say these changes alone would not boost vaccine availability in the developing world — where supply chain bottlenecks and a scarcity of raw materials are also affecting the availability of shots.
Singh also questioned the government’s decision to limit travel from seven countries in southern Africa, saying that while he is open to hearing better evidence, “testing and quarantining” seems to be a better approach.
Flight bans and measures to limit travel are not the most helpful tools in the global fight against the pandemic, Singh said.
“It really is going to come down to the number one, most effective tool we have … getting people vaccinated. And to do that, Canada has to take a role in pushing for a waiver of those vaccine patents,” he said.
TORONTO – Faith leaders are calling on Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reverse course on his decision to close 10 supervised consumption sites across the province.
A number of religious organizations came to Queen’s Park on Tuesday and said they were hopeful they could reach Ford’s “humanity.”
Last month, Health Minister Sylvia Jones outlined a fundamental shift in the province’s approach to the overdose crisis, largely driven by opioids such as fentanyl.
Ontario will shutter the 10 sites because they’re too close to schools and daycares, and the government will prohibit any new ones from opening as it moves to an abstinence-based treatment model.
Health workers, advocates and users of the sites have warned of a spike in deaths when the sites close, which is slated for March 31, 2025.
Until then, the faith leaders say they plan to pressure Ford for change.
“I’m hoping that, perhaps, if facts and figures and science and data have all failed, perhaps we have a chance to reach his humanity, perhaps we have an opportunity to try once again to convince him that we are talking about human beings who will die,” said Rev. Maggie Helwig of the Church of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields.
The faith organizations all work closely, in one form or another, with those addicted to drugs. The sites slated for closure have said they have reversed thousands of overdoses over the past few years.
“We believe that those who are visiting the sites are the folks who have the least resources, the highest need and the least access to privacy and care,” said Bishop Andrew Asbil of the Anglican Diocese of Toronto.
“We believe that the sites are in the right place, which means that they are often in places of deprivation and desolation and sometimes that also includes high crime rates.”
Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich of Beth Sholom Synagogue said the province’s decision should not be ideological.
“This is not an issue of where you stand,” he said.
“It’s an issue of where you sit, because if there are people in your family who you sit with at a table who suffer from this blight, from this struggle, you know that most importantly there should be a clear and supportive policy that makes it understandable that people are seen as human beings.”
Opioids began to take a hold in Ontario in 2015 with the rise of illicit fentanyl. Opioid toxicity deaths surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and hit a peak mortality rate of 19.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, data from the Office of the Chief Coroner shows. That year 2,858 people died from opioids, the vast majority of which contained fentanyl.
The mortality rate dropped to 17.5 deaths per 100,000 people, or 2,593 people, last year, but remains more than 50 per cent higher than in 2019.
The Ford government introduced the consumption and treatment services model in 2018. At that time, the province put in place a cap of 21 such sites in the province, but has only funded 17.
Ford recently called his government’s approach a “failed policy.”
The province said it will launch 19 new “homelessness and addiction recovery treatment hubs” plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a cost of $378 million.
Jones has said no one will die as a result of the closures and Ford has said advocates should be grateful for the new model.
The government is not going to reverse course, Jones’s office said.
“Communities, parents, and families across Ontario have made it clear that the presence of drug consumption sites near schools and daycares is leading to serious safety problems,” Hannah Jensen, a spokeswoman for Jones, wrote in a statement Tuesday.
“We agree. That’s why our government is taking action to keep communities safe, while supporting the recovery of those struggling with opioid addiction.”
The health minister is encouraging existing sites to apply for the new model so long as they do away with both supervised consumption spaces and a needle exchange program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
VICTORIA – British Columbia’s ombudsperson has a list of criticisms for the province over the way it has treated Doukhobor survivors months after the premier apologized for the government’s removal of the children from their families in the 1950s.
A statement from Jay Chalke says the government is being vague about who is eligible for promised compensation, and its communication is so inconsistent and unclear that survivors are coming to his office for help.
Hundreds of children whose parents were members of the Sons of Freedom Doukhobor religious group were taken from their homes more than 70 years ago and sent to live in a former tuberculosis sanatorium in New Denver, B.C.
Chalke’s statement says given Eby’s “solemn apology” in the legislature, he’s surprised the province’s follow-up communication fell so short.
He says the government has confirmed that each survivor unjustly taken to New Denver will get $18,000 in compensation, which he says is inadequate as nearly two-thirds of the $10-million “recognition package” is going to other purposes.
The province announced in February that the money would also be used for community programs and education to provide “lasting recognition of historical wrongs” against members of the religious group and their families.
Chalke says the situation is further complicated because the government hasn’t provided clear information to survivors or descendants about any financial consequences of receiving the compensation.
Many of the survivors are living on a fixed income and Chalke says the province needs to make sure that accepting the money doesn’t have negative financial impacts on means-tested programs.
“This is important to ensure that the compensation is not clawed back, for example, through reduced seniors benefits or increased long-term care fees,” his statement says.
“I call on government to develop and share with the community its plan for contacting all survivors and descendants, providing timely, accurate information about government’s compensation program and responding to their questions.”
Chalke says he will be closely monitoring the next steps the government takes and he will continue to report on the situation publicly.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
The town of Jasper, Alta., is asking the provincial government for budgetary financial support for the next few years to avoid drastically cutting services or implementing significant tax hikes while the community rebuilds.
The request comes as Jasper, which saw an estimated $283 million worth of property value destroyed by a devastating wildfire in July, begins to grapple with how it will manage severely reduced property tax revenue in the years to come.
“We have not hit the bottom yet,” Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland said during Tuesday’s town council meeting. “Our tax base is going to get even lower before it starts to recover.”
Town administration estimates the wildfire wiped out well over $2 million in rolling annual property tax revenue for the municipality, not including additional revenue the town would have continued to receive in future years in utility fees charged to the 358 homes and businesses that are no longer standing.
Council also approved Tuesday a property tax relief proposal for residents affected by the July wildfire.
Under the tax relief proposal, which is subject to the provincial government stepping up with financial assistance, all property owners would be given a one-month tax break for the time when a mandatory evacuation order was in place.
Property owners whose homes or businesses were destroyed would have their remaining or outstanding 2024 bill nullified, or refunded if the full year’s tax bill was already paid.
Ireland noted that four members of council, including himself, would be covered under this relief for having lost their homes.
The relief includes municipal property taxes, as well as the provincial education requisition, which would need to be refunded by the Alberta government.
The proposal means Jasper would forgo more than $1.9 million in municipal property tax revenue this year, or close to 10 per cent of its 2024 budget.
Jasper’s chief administrative officer Bill Given told council the town estimates it will miss out on an additional $1.7 million in 2024 from reduced paid parking, public transit, and utility fee revenue.
Heather Jenkins, the press secretary for Alberta Municipal Affairs Minister Ric McIver, said the ministry will consider the town’s request once received.
Given said Tuesday the town’s request is not unprecedented, as the province has previously provided Slave Lake, Alta., and the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alta., with similar financial support after wildfires struck both communities in 2011 and 2016 respectively.
Without support from the province, Jasper could be faced with raising taxes on the properties that remain to make up for the lost revenue or cut services until the town’s tax base recovers when homes and businesses are rebuilt.
An administrative report presented to council says the first option would “cause significant strain” on residents, while cutting services “would likely both prolong the community’s recovery and damage the destination’s reputation with visitors.”
Ireland said Jasper would face “insurmountable challenges” if it doesn’t receive financial support from the province.
“We are not seeking a grant or a subsidy from the province,” Ireland argued. “I see this as an investment by the province in our tourism economy.”
“We contribute disproportionately to provincial (gross domestic product) recognized through tourism, so yes… the province can see this as an investment in its own future by supporting our tourism-based community.”
Tuesday also marked the first day of school for Jasper’s elementary, junior high, and high school students. Classes were delayed to start the year as both schools in the community suffered significant smoke damage.
The community’s transit service also resumed Tuesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
