The Trudeau government has announced the suspension of its remaining Covid-19 border measures, including the vaccine mandate, mask mandate and the mandatory use of the controversial ArriveCan app.
On Monday, the government announced that as of Oct. 1, “all travellers arriving in Canada will no longer have to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter Canada or meet COVID-19 testing, quarantine or isolation requirements.”
In addition, the mask mandate for planes and trains is also coming to an end.
While the suspension of Canada’s remaining Covid measures comes as good news for travellers, the government echoed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s assertion that the pandemic is not yet over.
“The Covid-19 pandemic is not over yet. There is still the possibility of a future resurgence in cases this fall or of a new variant of concern,” reads the government’s news release.
The government’s controversial ArriveCan app has caused headaches for millions of travellers entering Canada.
Despite reassurance from transport minister Omar Alghabra that there was “no evidence” that the app was causing issues for travellers, there were many reports of passengers having trouble with the app, including a glitch in the app which instructed over 10,000 fully-vaccinated travellers that they needed to enter into mandatory quarantine earlier this month.
The ArriveCan app also caught the attention of US politicians, experts and business groups.
US Congresswoman Elise Stefanik called for an end to ArriveCan, citing issues for American travellers.
The Canadian American Business Council also called for an end to the government’s app, claiming the “seamless integration” of the two countries is at risk.
In an interview with Andrew Lawton, former Air Canada COO Duncan Dee said that the app caused massive delays at Canada’s airports, claiming that it took four times longer to process travellers when compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has filed a Charter challenge against the ArriveCan requirement, arguing it infringes on numerous Charter rights.
