A glitch-prone app touted as an efficient border control tool early in the pandemic has seen critics question its usefulness. I became a punching bag. But ArriveCan could come along. Stay.
The government claims this is a useful tool. Critics say it has fallen out of use, if at all.
Briefly describe what we currently know about this.
What is ArriveCan?
This 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 incoming 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 those 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 he didn't need to. 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?
A recent government update to the app focuses 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.
Last week, the government announced plans to extend this optional feature to inbound flights to Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax and Billy Bishop Toronto City airports.
Transport Canada said earlier this month in a statement highlighting Canada's air travel debacle that a person who uses the form cuts his time at the kiosk by a third. That's 40 seconds off the average 2-minute visit time, and the government estimates everyone could "save hours of waiting time" if they took advantage of it.
Are apps shaping the future of air travel?
Electronic data collection related to COVID-19 is mandated at many international borders, and online forms are increasingly being used for non-pandemic reasons. Australia will only process electronic travel authorizations via apps, but from next year an online authorization form will be required to visit the European Union.
Canadian officials said they would do something similar. I didn't say I was planning to. But Public Security Minister Marco Mendicino told reporters in June that although ArriveCan was created for COVID-19, it "actually reduces the time needed to get checked at the border. We have the technical ability to do that,” he said.
Prior to the pandemic, Canada had other initiatives, including customs kiosks at major airports since 2017 and the still-existing eDeclaration app introduced in 2018 to reduce processing times. We had already started digitizing our border services.
Wiley said people weren't using the app in large numbers before the pandemic. Because it was voluntary and there was an easy alternative. But she said Ottawa is using 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. initiative is fine as long as it is voluntary, he added. 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 who enter Canada by car from the United States have already used ArriveCan. not.
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, he was waived for 308,800 of his five million crossings through August 4, according to a CBSA statement.
But that is only a temporary solution, he said, St-Jacques. Already understaffed, police officers who feel understaffed are acting as “IT consultants” themselves, helping travelers with technical problems rather than solving them. Because you know you're solving the problem. trained to do so. “If the purpose of this 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 believe ArriveCan and other pandemic border restrictions are deterring American tourists. I have publicly complained about it.
Why has ArriveCan become such a hot political topic?
Conservative because Canadians are burdened with extra hassle, worried about privacy, sympathetic to border towns, or simply fed up with federal liberals. The party has an audience for their call to do away with ArriveCan.
Canadian actor Shim Liu joined the "ditch the app" bandwagon, demanding his followers say one good thing in a tweet on Tuesday, immediately saying, "I'm up for the challenge." I failed," he said.
Interim Conservative Party leader Candice Bergen said in a tweet on Tuesday that ArriveCan would create "unnecessary hurdles" and "would only hurt Canada's economy and tourism industry."
Some argue that 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 Canadian Press report was first published on August 16, 2022.
-- use Sarah Ritchie's files
