Canada extends ban on most foreign travellers to at least July 31 - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 12:23 AM | Calgary | -0.4°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Politics

Canada extends ban on most foreign travellers to at least July 31

Ottawa has extended for at least another montha sweeping travel ban that bars entry to all travellers who are not Canadian citizens,permanent residentsor people entering from the U.S. for "essential"reasons.

Order requiring travellers to quarantine for 14 days on arrival also extended to end of August

The federal government will extend a sweeping ban on foreign travellers entering Canada until at least the end of July, the CBSA confirmed Tuesday. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)

Ottawa has extended for at least another montha sweeping travel ban that bars entry to all travellers who are not Canadian citizens,permanent residentsor people entering from the U.S. for "essential"reasons.

The order, which was set to expire tonight, "has been extended until July 31 for public health reasons," Rebecca Purdy, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, said in a statement to CBC News.

The order one of a set of extraordinary new measures introduced on March 16to stop the spread of COVID-19 bans most foreign nationals from entering Canadaif they arrive from a foreign country other than the U.S.(There are limited exceptions for air crew, diplomats and immediate family members of citizens. Some seasonal workers, caregivers and international studentsare also exempt.)

The previous order-in-council a cabinet decision made without going beforeParliament was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday.

Officials confirm the government will maintain the order barringforeign nationals from entering Canada at this time,instead ofmodifying the order to reopen the border tocertain countriesthose with low infection rates or those allowing Canadian tourists to visit,for example.

A separate order prohibitsnon-essential travel betweenCanada and the U.S.and remains in effect until July 21; it was extended earlier this month. Under this order, essential workers, such as truckers and health workers, are allowed to cross the border.

Tuesday's decision by Ottawa to continue banning foreign nationals from entering Canada comes after the European Union agreed to allow some tourists to enter the EU beginning tomorrow.Canada is among the 15 countries on the EU's so-called "safe" list.

The EU said Tuesday it expects countries on that list to lift any bans they might have in place on European travellers.

Last week, Prime Minister JustinTrudeau pushed back against pressure to relax the ban on international travellers, arguing that moving too quickly could spark a second wave of the coronavirus.

"We are going to be very, very careful about when and how we start reopening international borders," Trudeau said at a briefing on June 22.

"I understand how difficult this is and how frustrating this is for some people, but we know that reopening too quickly or carelessly would lead us to a resurgence that might well force us to go back into lockdown, to shut down the economy once again, and nobody wants that."

A cabinet order requiring all travellers entering Canada to isolate for 14-days was set to expire Tuesday, but will be extended, a government official told CBC News on Monday. (Jennifer Gauthier/Bloomberg)

Mandatory quarantine order extended to end of August

Tuesday marks six months since the World Health Organization was first informed of a cluster of unusual pneumonia cases in China the first public indications of the novelcoronavirus's emergence.

WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned this week that the coronavirus pandemic is "not even close to being over" and that the outbreak is accelerating globally. To date, the WHO has recorded more than 10 million cases and 500,000 deaths globally.

As CBC News first reported on Monday, the federal government is alsoextending strict quarantine rulesrequiring travellers to isolate for 14 days upon their arrival in Canada. That separate order which was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Tuesday has now been extended to August 31.

Under the Quarantine Act, travellers also need to confirm that they have a suitable place to isolate where they will have access to basic necessities, including food and medicine.

Under the Act, no one ispermitted to quarantine anywhere they could come into contact with vulnerable people. Those who, for example, normally live with an elderly person or someone with a compromised immune system would have to quarantine elsewhere.

If the Canada Border Services Agency suspects that a returning traveller is not going to comply with the rules, it can alert the Public Health Agency of Canada, which can then flag the RCMP's national operations centre. The RCMP has been playing a coordinating role with local police during the pandemic.

Maximum penalties for failing to comply with the Quarantine Act include a fine of up to $750,000 and/or imprisonment for six months. If someone jeopardizes another's life while wilfully or recklessly contravening the act, the penalties are even greater: $1 million or three years in prison, or both.

Clarifications

  • This story has been updated to make it clear that the Canada-U.S. border is covered by a separate cabinet order and travellers can only enter Canada for travel deemed essential.
    Jun 30, 2020 12:43 PM ET

Add some good to your morning and evening.

Your daily guide to the coronavirus outbreak. Get the latest news, tips on prevention and your coronavirus questions answered every evening.

...

The next issue of the Coronavirus Brief will soon be in your inbox.

Discover all CBC newsletters in theSubscription Centre.opens new window

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Google Terms of Service apply.