Since Canada imposed COVID-19 travel restrictions in late March, more than four million people have entered the country.
While that’s far fewer than normal, sightings of U.S. licence plates or international flights landing have still been sparking concerns that foreigners have found ways to sneak in.
In Alberta — home of tourist hotspot, Banff — RCMP reported that between June 17 and August 25, officers received 243 complaints of U.S.-plated cars in the province.
A small number of fines have been doled out to Americans skirting Canada’s travel rules. However, the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) points out that there are many legitimate reasons why Americans may have entered the country.
“It should be noted that simply seeing a U.S.-plated vehicle or boat is not a reason to suspect someone of suspicious cross-border activity,” said CBSA spokesperson Mark Stuart in an email.
Here’s why, despite Canada’s travel restrictions, the country is still open to some visitors.
According to the CBSA, which tracks numbers on a weekly basis, just over 4.4 million Canadians and foreigners have entered Canada by land or air since March 23.
The numbers are a drop in the bucket compared to pre-pandemic travel.
For example, during the last week of August, 185,866 travellers entered Canada by land — a decline of 88 per cent compared to the same period in 2019.
Another 65,285 air passengers landed in Canada that week — a drop of almost 93 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Are Canada’s restrictions tough enough?
Since Canada’s travel restrictions took effect, the CBSA has turned away thousands of foreigners.
The agency reports that between March 22 and August 19, it denied entry to more than 16,000 people trying to cross from the U.S. by land or air. Close to half were rejected because they wanted to enter for recreational reasons such as sightseeing and shopping.
Travel restrictions at the Canada-U.S. land border took effect March 21, but trade and other travel deemed essential continued. (Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press)
The CBSA said Canada must keep its doors open to some foreigners so Canadians still have access to essential goods and services.
The majority of people currently entering by land are truck drivers — who are deemed essential workers.
“The CBSA is committed to maintaining cross-border supply chains, supporting Canadian importers and exporters and ensuring the free flow of goods and services across our international borders,” said the CBSA’s Stuart.
Kelley Lee, a professor of public health at Simon Fraser University, said it’s debatable whether all types of travel Canada has defined as “essential” belong in the category.
She cites as an example Canada allowing Americans to drive through the country to Alaska for work or to return home. The rule has angered Canadians who fear it has become a loophole for Americans wanting to enter Canada for a vacation.
“People say, ‘Well, actually, people driving to Alaska, why are they allowed to do that, is that essential?’ And so there’s a kind of debate there,” said Lee, who also studies global health governance.
Kelley Lee is a professor of public health at Simon Fraser University who holds a Canada Research Chair in Global Health Governance. (Simon Fraser University)
To further complicate matters, some Americans have flouted CBSA’s rules which state that when driving to Alaska, they can’t make unnecessary stops along the way.
According to Alberta RCMP, officers issued nine fines of $1,200 each to U.S. residents purportedly driving to or from Alaska, who stopped to see the sights in Banff National Park.
One of the offenders allegedly defied the rules again the very next day — on June 26 — and was consequently charged for breaching Canada’s Quarantine Act. John Pennington of Kentucky is set to appear in court in Canmore, Alberta on Nov. 26.
In late July, the CBSA beefed up its rules for Alaska-bound Americans by forcing them to display a hang-tag in their car, indicating the purpose of their trip. They also must check in with border officials before departing Canada.
This is the top part of the tag issued by Canada Border Services Agency that Americans driving through Canada to Alaska must hang from their car’s rear view mirror. (submitted by Canada Border Services agency)
Lee said another concern is that Canadians can still vacation abroad.
“People are traveling on holiday abroad and coming back again, so that does worry me,” said Lee. “No travel is risk-free. We are risking infection every time.”
According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, the percentage of COVID-19 cases associated with international travel have declined dramatically since March, when the country implemented its travel restrictions and advised Canadians to not travel abroad.
In February, 42.2 per cent of COVID-19 cases were associated with international travel. That number dropped to a low of 0.4 per cent in May, and has since inched up to 3.2 per cent for the first three weeks of August.
What happens next?
Lee is currently heading up an international study, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, exploring the effectiveness of travel restrictions and other cross-border measures during a pandemic.
She said that countries need to not only monitor who is entering, but also, what travellers do next.
“What happens to people when they come past the border? Are we doing enough to ensure that they are following the rules?”
WATCH | Dr. Theresa Tam talks about testing international arrivals
Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam answers if testing arrivals at international airports could eventually replace the 14-day quarantine period. 1:18
Canada requires all international arrivals to quarantine for 14 days, but at least a handful of people have been caught defying the order and fined up to $1,000.
Last week, Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, said the federal government is exploring whether it’s practical to test people for COVID-19 when entering Canada, in place of the quarantine requirement.
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.
