Feds extend border measures for travellers entering Canada through June

The federal government is extending the current border measures for travellers entering Canada for at least another month.

Several pandemic restrictions remain in place at Canadian airports and land borders, including vaccine mandates, random COVID-19 tests, and the requirement that international travellers answer pandemic-related questions on the ArriveCAN app.

The extension means all travellers, regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status, will need to continue to submit information in ArriveCAN before they arrive at the Canadian border.

The extended measures will last until at least June 30.

“We’ve always had to strike the balance between protecting public health and ensuring the fluidity and movement of our economy,” says Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, speaking to reporters on Tuesday morning.

The Canadian Airports Council has blamed customs delays across the country, partly on the pandemic measures still in place at airports, but Alghabra contends that is not the fully story.

“Public health measures may be part of the reason why we have slowness at the airports,” he says. “There are other jurisdictions that have volume issues that do not have any public health measures.”

He says some European airports free of health measures are experiencing similar delays.

On Monday, Parliament voted down a Conservative opposition motion to revert to pre-pandemic rules for travel.

“The discussion is ongoing. We’ve lifted many measures that we had on public health and now we are reassessing the remaining public health measures.”

Pre-entry tests are no longer required for fully vaccinated travellers entering into Canada. Foreign nationals who are not fully vaccinated cannot travel to Canada with the exception of special exemptions.