Why is ArriveCan still mandatory, and what are Ottawa's plans for the controversial app?

OTTAWA — touted as an efficient perimeter A tool early in the glitch-prone app pandemic has become a punching bag for critics questioning its usefulness…  — but ArriveCan may stick.

The government claims this is a useful tool. Critics say it has fallen out of use, if at all.

Here's a quick rundown of what we know so far.

What is Alive Can?

The app was introduced early in the pandemic and from February 2021 onwards, use of the app is mandatory at air and land borders, except in the event of accessibility issues or outages.

ArriveCan ostensibly screened arriving travelers for his COVID-19 and tracked their vaccination status last year. Refusal to use the app and provide required information can result in fines of up to $5,000 under quarantine laws.

Did the app do what it was supposed to do?

The ArriveCan app improved the quality of information the government collected about travelers, according to a December 2021 report by the Federal Accountability Office. However, due to still poor data quality, nearly 138,000 of his COVID-19 test results could not be matched to arriving travelers, and of the travelers told to quarantine in government-approved hotels, the number of staying Only 25% were confirmed to have done so.

Last month, due to a glitch, ArriveCan instructed approximately 10,200 travelers to quarantine for 14 days when not required. Digital Public partner Bianca Wylie wondered why the app would automate these decisions in the first place, rather than sticking to its information gathering obligations at launch.

Only apps about COVID-19?

Recent government updates on apps focus more on efficiency than public health measures. Air border crossings now allow you to use the app to fill out customs forms before you arrive at Pearson Airport in Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal, although this is optional.

The government last week announced plans to extend this optional feature to incoming flights to Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax and Billy Bishop Toronto City airports.

Transport Canada, in a statement earlier this month highlighting the Canadian air travel debacle, said people who use forms spend one-third less time at kiosks. I said I will. This is 40 seconds behind the average two-minute visit time, and the government estimates that everyone using it "saves hours of waiting time."

Are apps the future of air travel?

Electronic data collection related to COVID-19 has become mandatory at many international borders, with online forms increasingly being used for non-pandemic reasons. Australia will only process electronic travel authorizations via an app, but an online authorization form will be required to visit the European Union from next year.

Canadian officials said they would do something similar. I didn't say I was planning to. However, Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters in June that although ArriveCan was created for COVID-19, it "has more technical capabilities than that, so it can be tested at borders." It can significantly reduce the time required to receive it."

Canada had other initiatives to improve border services prior to the pandemic, including customs kiosks at major airports since 2017 and an eDeclaration app in 2018. We had already started digitizing. Reduce processing time.

According to Wiley, people were not using the app in large numbers before the pandemic. But she said Ottawa is using her COVID-19 as an opportunity to accelerate the transition.

"The federal government is using the public health crisis to basically train people in border modernization exercises that they wanted to do," Wiley said. He added that the initiative was fine as long as it was voluntary. Alternatives are available.

How have apps impacted cross-border travel?

According to Immigration and Customs Union spokesman Pierre Saint-Jacques, about a quarter of those driving into Canada from the United States have not used his ArriveCan beforehand.

Canada The U. Canada Border Services Agency has confirmed that a one-time exemption is in place for travelers who "may not have known" the rules. From May 24 to August 4, he was granted this exemption 308,800 times out of five million crossings, according to a CBSA statement.

But that is only a temporary solution, he said, Mr St-Jacques. Already feeling cramped due to understaffing, police officers acted as "IT consultants" themselves, trying to solve travelers' technical problems rather than solving them. Because you notice that trained to do so. “If the purpose of the app is to make cross-border travel more efficient or safer, it will not work in the current iteration,” he said.

Border town mayors, border city chambers of commerce and even duty-free shops say ArriveCan and other pandemic border restrictions are deterring American tourists. They are publicly complaining that they think they are.

Why has ArriveCan become such a hot political topic?

As Canadians suffer from extra hassle, worry about privacy, sympathize with border towns, or are simply fed up with federal liberals, the Conservatives are ArriveCan

Popular Canadian actor Simu Liu has joined the "ditch the app" bandwagon, asking his followers to do one good thing in a tweet Tuesday. I demanded to say something and immediately said, "I failed the challenge."

Interim Conservative Party leader Candice Bergen tweeted Tuesday that ArriveCan would create "unnecessary hurdles" and "would only hurt Canada's economy and tourism industry." said.

Some voices go a step further by claiming the app is part of a broader effort to collect personal information and control the public. Conservative leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis called the whole thing a "surveillance experiment".

The Privacy Commissioner also investigates complaints about the collection and use of personal data by apps.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on August 16, 2022.

— Using Sarah Richie's files