Ottawa is making plans to expand the capabilities of its ArriveCAN app even as criticism continues to mount over the mandatory online data-entry system for travellers entering the country.
Earlier this week, Transport Canada gave an update on its plans to improve the app, including by adding an optional, online advance CBSA declaration feature for people going to the Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Billy Bishop Toronto City, Ottawa, Québec City and Halifax international airports.
The feature, which Transport Canada says cuts the amount of time travellers spend at a Canada Border Services Agency kiosk by a third, is currently only available to those passing through Toronto Pearson, Vancouver or Montreal-Trudeau international airports.
“With the thousands of travellers arriving in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal airports each day, the use of the optional advance CBSA declaration has the potential to save hours in wait time,” according to Transport Canada’s release.
With Ottawa signalling no plans to do away with the app, here’s a refresher on how it works, why it’s in place — and who’s for and against its continued use.
Why was it put in place?
Though the app was introduced earlier in the pandemic, the version of ArriveCAN people are familiar with today launched in July 2021, when Canada began easing public health restrictions on people coming into Canada. Fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents crossing the border were no longer required to quarantine upon their return.
But Canada still wanted a way to account for people’s vaccination statuses and COVID-19 results from a recent test. The app allowed travellers to take a photo or upload a snapshot of their vaccine documentation into the app before going through customs.
How does it work today?
Canada has lifted most of its travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers, including the need for domestic travellers to show proof of vaccination while travelling by train or plane.
But regardless of vaccination status, all travellers coming into Canada are required to submit their information to the ArriveCAN app — or the website version if they don’t have a smartphone — up to 72 hours before entering Canada.
When travellers finish inputting their information, they’re emailed a receipt to show a Canadian border officer upon arrival, along with their COVID-19 test results and any vaccination documents.
The app has not been without its issues. Last month, Public Safety Canada acknowledged a glitch incorrectly informed some travellers to quarantine when in fact they didn’t have to.
What are the potential penalties for non-compliance?
Travellers who fail to provide the required information won’t be denied entry but may face a 14-day quarantine, the need to take a COVID-19 test on arrival and a followup test eight days later.
Yes, including people who can’t access the app or website because of cognitive or physical impairments.
Instead, they may provide the information verbally at the border or by completing a paper form.
The exemption also applies to people who can’t fill out the information online because of a natural disaster, censorship, lack of access to internet or an ArriveCAN outage.
There is a degree of leeway for some people at land border crossings too.
As of May 24, “to allow for more flexibility,” the Canada Border Services Agency began letting fully vaccinated Canadian land travellers off with a warning the first time they neglect to fill out the app if they had no prior history of non-compliance.
The union representing border workers told CBC News last month that between 30 and 40 per cent of travellers entering into Canada in Windsor, Ont., weren’t completing the app before arriving.
Other politicians — including Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidates Jean Charest, Pierre Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis and Scott Aitchison — have called for the app to be scrapped, saying it creates headaches for some travellers and and contributes to delays at airports.
In a tweet last month, Poilievre called on Canada to “stop forcing ArriveCAN on people” and “restore sanity to our airports.” The tweet included video, which CBC News has not verified, of an elderly person without a cell phone calling the app “bureaucracy run amok” while at a Toronto airport.
This is how stupid things have gotten with this Liberal government.<br><br>Rules for the sake of rules. Rules that don’t make sense. Rules that leave people upset and angry.<br><br>Stop forcing ArriveCan on people. Restore sanity to our airports. <a href=”https://t.co/hUepm7fhJC”>https://t.co/hUepm7fhJC</a>
Lewis more recently called the app a “surveillance experiment” that needs to end.
This terrible ArriveCan App surveillance experiment needs to end. The government cannot continue to infringe on the rights and freedoms of Canadians. <a href=”https://t.co/5rcDHOtzHi”>https://t.co/5rcDHOtzHi</a>
MP Taylor Bachrach, the New Democrats’ transport critic, said ArriveCAN continues to play “an important role” in helping screen international arrivals for new variants and for verifying that visitors to Canada are fully vaccinated to protect the country’s health care system.
“But the government must make the app work as intended so it can reduce wait times at airports and border crossings as promised,” Bachrach said in a statement.
The government also needs to better address people who can’t use the online app for accessibility reasons, he added.
“It is totally inappropriate for customs agents to be acting as IT technicians as they troubleshoot travellers’ technology challenges” he said.
Green Party MP Elizabeth May said she has found the app helpful and easy to use during her travels.
“The recent glitch, on the other hand, demonstrates a serious problem in terms of privacy breaches,” she said in a statement.
What does the government have to say about it?
In its release earlier this week, Transport Canada said 1,600 security screening officers with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority have been hired across Canada since April, while 30 new customs inspection kiosks have been recently added at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In its own statement to CBC News, the CBSA said 99.53 per cent of air travellers used ArrivedCAN in the week ending July 17, according to the most recently available data.
Millions of people have used the app without issue, the spokesperson added.
“Without ArriveCAN, processing times for travellers would increase significantly, as these public health functions would need to be completed manually for each traveller by CBSA officers at the port of entry.”
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. – Three teenage girls have been charged with assault after two separate violent attacks took place on Metro Vancouver’s transit system.
Metro Vancouver Transit Police say the assaults happened on July 11, the first of which was on board a SkyTrain while it travelled from New Westminster to Surrey.
Police say a 16-year-old student was attacked by the three suspects after she tried to prevent one of them from prying open the doors while the train was moving.
The attackers are accused of punching and kicking the girl, then dragging her by her hair before other passengers and SkyTrain attendants in Surrey were able to help her.
Police say the second attack happened about three hours later, when the three boarded a bus and surrounded an 18-year-old woman following a verbal exchange. They punched and kicked the victim and pulled out clumps of her hair.
Officers who were called to the scene identified the suspects as a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old from Surrey, as well as a 15-year-old from Abbotsford. All three have been charged with assault causing bodily harm.
The suspects cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Police say while they would never ask bystanders to put themselves in harm’s way, the intervention by the other passengers to help the victims in the attacks should be acknowledged.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Forecasters have elevated their warnings about an atmospheric river system that is expected to hit coastal British Columbia on Friday, bringing potential flooding, heavy rain and high winds.
B.C.’s River Forecast Centre has issued a flood watch for the south and central coasts, while Environment Canada has upgraded its special weather statement over the region to a rainfall warning, with mountainous areas of Vancouver Island expected to get more than 200 millimetres of precipitation.
The weather agency says the atmospheric river system will arrive early Friday and persist through provincial election day on Saturday in places including Metro Vancouver, Whistler and almost all of Vancouver Island.
The north and central coasts from Bella Bella to Haida Gwaii are also under a wind warning, with gusts expected to reach 110 kilometres an hour.
The River Forecast Centre says a high streamflow advisory is in effect for the north coast, upper Fraser and the Thompson regions.
Environment Canada issued the first snowfall warnings of the season along the British Columbia and Yukon border, with accumulations up to 20 centimetres expected in some areas.
The weather office says the snow will spread through southwestern Yukon until Saturday.
It says 10 centimetres of snow is expected in most regions, but predicts up to 25 centimetres in Swift River.
It says an arctic ridge of high pressure will clear the skies on Sunday and temperatures will fall to about -20 degrees Celsius by Monday.
Environment Canada says the “first substantial snow” is also expected south of the border in Fort Nelson, B.C., starting Friday.
It says about 10 centimetres is expected in most regions, but there could be more than 20 centimetres close to the border.
The weather office is warning drivers about low visibility Friday night due to drifting snow.
It says the Trans-Canada Highway near Rogers Pass may also “see wet snow Friday afternoon before it quickly changes to rain as the weather system brings in mild air.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe is promising a directive banning “biological boys” from using school changing rooms with “biological girls” if re-elected, a move the NDP’s Carla Beck says weaponizes vulnerable kids.
Moe made the pledge Thursday at a campaign stop in Regina. He said it was in response to a complaint that two biological males had changed for gym class with girls at a school in southeast Saskatchewan.
He said the ban would be his first order of business if he’s voted again as premier on Oct. 28.
It was not previously included in his party’s campaign platform document.
“I’ll be very clear, there will be a directive that would come from the minister of education that would say that biological boys will not be in the change room with biological girls,” Moe said.
He added school divisions should already have change room policies, but a provincial directive would ensure all have the rule in place.
Asked about the rights of gender-diverse youth, Moe said other children also have rights.
“What about the rights of all the other girls that are changing in that very change room? They have rights as well,” he said, followed by cheers and claps.
The complaint was made at a school with the Prairie Valley School Division. The division said in a statement it doesn’t comment on specific situations that could jeopardize student privacy and safety.
“We believe all students should have the opportunity to learn and grow in a safe and welcoming learning environment,” it said.
“Our policies and procedures align with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Saskatchewan Human Rights Code.”
Asked about Moe’s proposal, Beck said it would make vulnerable kids more vulnerable.
Moe is desperate to stoke fear and division after having a bad night during Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate, she said.
“Saskatchewan people, when we’re at our best, are people that come together and deliver results, not divisive, ugly politics like we’ve seen time and again from Scott Moe and the Sask. Party,” Beck said.
“If you see leaders holding so much power choosing to punch down on vulnerable kids, that tells you everything you need to know about them.”
Beck said voters have more pressing education issues on their minds, including the need for smaller classrooms, more teaching staff and increased supports for students.
People also want better health care and to be able to afford gas and groceries, she added.
“We don’t have to agree to understand Saskatchewan people deserve better,” Beck said.
The Saskatchewan Party government passed legislation last year that requires parents consent to children under 16 using different names or pronouns at school.
The law has faced backlash from some LGBTQ+ advocates, who argue it violates Charter rights and could cause teachers to out or misgender children.
Beck has said if elected her party would repeal that legislation.
Heather Kuttai, a former commissioner with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission who resigned last year in protest of the law, said Moe is trying to sway right-wing voters.
She said a change room directive would put more pressure on teachers who already don’t have enough educational support.
“It sounds like desperation to me,” she said.
“It sounds like Scott Moe is nervous about the election and is turning to homophobic and transphobic rhetoric to appeal to far-right voters.
“It’s divisive politics, which is a shame.”
She said she worries about the future of gender-affirming care in a province that once led in human rights.
“We’re the kind of people who dig each other out of snowbanks and not spew hatred about each other,” she said. “At least that’s what I want to still believe.”
Also Thursday, two former Saskatchewan Party government members announced they’re endorsing Beck — Mark Docherty, who retired last year and was a Speaker, and Glen Hart, who retired in 2020.
Ian Hanna, a speech writer and senior political adviser to former Saskatchewan Party premier Brad Wall, also endorsed Beck.
Earlier in the campaign, Beck received support from former Speaker Randy Weekes, who quit the Saskatchewan Party earlier this year after accusing caucus members of bullying.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
