Canada
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More than 1.6 million arrived at border without using ArriveCAN. Less than 200 fined

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said that 'going forward, use of ArriveCAN will be optional'

The federal Conservatives have been calling for the Liberal government to forgive the fines that were issued to travellers for not using the ArriveCAN app when arriving at the Canadian border.
The federal Conservatives have been calling for the Liberal government to forgive the fines that were issued to travellers for not using the ArriveCAN app when arriving at the Canadian border. Photo by Paul Morden/Postmedia/File

The Liberal government will stop requiring travellers to use the ArriveCAN app — though new data shows that since the start of the year, more than 1.65 million individuals already flaunted the rules by arriving at the border without providing the information through the app.

The government said Monday it would lift all COVID-19-related travel measures on Oct. 1, including the requirement that travellers to Canada use the ArriveCAN app to provide COVID-19 vaccine, health and travel information before they arrive. The move follows opposition to the app from business groups, including the travel and tourism industry, and the Conservative Party.

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According to a document tabled in the House of Commons last week, between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, a total of 1,651,900 travellers had “presented themselves at the border for entry into Canada without having submitted their public health information through ArriveCAN prior to arrival.” That number accounts for about 4.3 per cent of the 38.5 million individuals who entered Canada via air or land from the start of the year to Sept. 11.

In January of 2022, 126,674 people failed to use the app before they arrived. That number then dropped to 50,176 in February before increasing again, to a total of 401,176 in July and 386,445 in August.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency wasn’t able to, by deadline, provide updated information about how many of those travellers would have benefitted from the one-time exemption the government quietly introduced over the summer. The agency also doesn’t keep track of how many people fill out the app after they arrive at the border.

The National Post reported in August the federal government introduced the one-time exemption for Canadian citizens and permanent residents in May, and extended it to foreign nationals in July. The exemption was used 308,800 times by land border travellers from May 24 to Aug. 4, the CBSA said at the time.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters Monday that “going forward, use of ArriveCAN will be optional, allowing travellers who so choose to submit their customs declaration in advance at major airports.”

  1. ArriveCAN is utterly dominating the Apple Store rankings right now, and it's mainly because the Canadian government will fine you $6,000 if you don't download it.

    How the hated ArriveCAN now ranks as Canada's number one app

  2. A person holds a smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app in a photo illustration made in Toronto on June 29.

    Ottawa discreetly changed ArriveCan rules to have one-time exemption

The Conservative Party has been calling for the government to forgive the fines that were issued to travellers for not using the app. A federal government website warns that “if you don’t submit your travel information and proof of vaccination using ArriveCAN you could be fined $5,000.”

Asked Monday whether those fines will stay in place, Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the question should be directed to the federal justice minister. “That is a decision made by the justice system and obviously independent of political interference,” he said.

Of the 1.65 million individuals who arrived without using the app, less than 200 would have been fined, according to testimony officials from the Public Health Agency of Canada gave at a House of Commons committee in August.

Jennifer Lutfallah, a vice-president with PHAC, said that since ArriveCAN was made mandatory, only 190 tickets have been issued for non-compliance with the app. She said those individuals are “are repeat offenders or simply will not comply with giving us a paper submission, which we offer when they are referred over to PHAC, or they just don’t want to comply with the public health measures.”