Keeping Canada Secure from Hazardous Border Entries

"Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers will use a risk-based, measured approach to non-compliance with this [quarantine] order, focusing on education and encouragement."

RCMP officers will attempt to conduct physical verification with the individual while maintaining physical distancing."

"Our officers will speak to the person, inform them of the law and explain the importance of compliance, as well as the potential consequences of non-compliance."

Catherine Portin, spokeswoman, RCMP

"It's  a very real and important risk that we're talking about. It only takes a handful who don't follow the quarantine orders to lead to the infection of others, and then it's all downhill from there."

Dr.Jeff Kwong, public health expert, University of Toronto

"...In some cases, travellers make overt statements indicating they will not comply or have no intention to comply [with rules and regulations on entry to Canada, requiring entrants to quarantine for 14 days]."

"As of July 3, 2020, the CBSA has referred information to both PHAC and the RCMP on 237 travellers who the CBSA believes may not have respected the requirement to quarantine or isolate and/or those who have signalled an unwillingness to comply."

Rebecca Purdy, spokesperson, Canada Border Services Agency

The Canada-U.S. land border is closed to non-essential travel to help stop the spread of COVID-19. (The Canadian Press)

"To date, 9 tickets have been reported to PHAC [Public Health Agency of Canada] as being issued under the Contraventions Act for offences under the Quarantine Act, four of which were issued following a request made by PHAC for a physical verification [2 fines were issued by RCMP and 2 by the Ontario Provincial Police]."

"As of July 9, 2020, no arrests have stemmed from PHAC-requested physical verification checks."

PHAC spokesperson Geoffroy Legault-Thivierge

"Most people from what I've seen, in terms of the data that’s come in, have been very good in terms of what we call compliance. They accept the calls, they recognize that we’re doing it not to badger or hound them, but really as a gentle reminder to continue doing what's, I think, in their best interests in terms of their health, but also to protect others."

"If you are coming from outside of Canada, please understand all of the efforts that Canadians have done inside of Canada to flatten the curve and to make sure that the transmission of the virus is as low as possible."
"Please do your part."

Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo

Over 1,500 international travellers whom Public Health Agency of Canada officials and border guards feared might choose to flout COVID-19 isolation rules were reported to police. Three million people entered Canada since late March, a significant minority of whom, according to federal officials, feel entitled to ignore rules requiring quarantine on entry. The Canadian border remains officially closed.

In those instances when police were alerted they dispatched to speak with those involved, though few charges or fines were levied in respect of the quarantine rule imposed on March 21. On arrival at the border or airport some travellers felt sufficiently self-assured to admit they would likely simply ignore the law requiring them to self-isolate for a two week period, according to the Canada Border Services Agency.

Policing the thousands of travellers who enter Canada from the United States and other points where the novel coronavirus is rampant is a daunting prospect. Some 2.8 million entrants had arrived by July 5, despite that arrivals are diminished by 80 to 90 percent over what would be expected in a representative normal period pre-COVID. Truckers ferrying trade represented close to half that number of arrivals; roughly 1.5 million others have entered the country as well, just over 388,000 of whom were returning Canadian citizens or permanent residents.

"Indicators of deception" identify possible quarantine dodgers, familiar to Border officers. Canada managed to decrease the spread of COVID-19 over recent weeks, while right next door in the U.S. transmission has risen steadily to record heights. Dr. Kwong of University of Toronto warns that the influx of travellers into Canada has the potential of a threat reversing Canada's gains in controlling the infection rate internally. 

What concerns Dr.Kwong in particular is that Canada is failing to ensure it is committed to doing everything practical and enforceable to make certain that people not import COVID cases into the country. The prospect of the border opening up once more in coming months is particularly worrying to this public health expert. Other countries require arriving international travellers to download apps to their cellphones enabling authorities to ensure they remain isolated for the required period.

A lone woman walks in an empty Air Canada line at Pearson International Airport in Toronto / (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)

Quarantine facilities have been created in other countries where arrivals are registered to ensure they spend their first two weeks in the country under supervision. Dr.Kwong feels these are model measures, yet he is uncertain whether the mood in Canada would allow for their emulation in the interests of reducing transmission potential. The model that Canada is committed to is the CBSA collecting arrivals information, passing it to the Public Health Agency.

From late March forward, Border Services has alerted both PHAC and the RCMP, of 237 individuals felt likely to ignore quarantine regulations, or who have in fact, informed border officers they have no intention of honouring the quarantine period. Once it contacts new arrivals, the health agency conducts its own identification of those it feels may not abide by the order, requiring "verification" by police.

In the period between March 25 and June 30 1,492 names have been passed by the Public Health Agency of Canada to the RCMP; considered to represent "priority" cases. Those people are contacted by RCMP officers in jurisdictions they cover. They have not once laid charges or levied fines against any of the priority traveller cases handled.

Canada is now allowing some family members separated by temporary COVID-19 travel restrictions to cross the border from the U.S