Tag Archives: ArriveCAN

ArriveCAN: A step in the wrong direction

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On Wednesday, June 15, 2022, the National President of the Customs and Immigration Union, Mark Weber, testified in front of the House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade as part of the Committee’s study on the potential impacts of the ArriveCAN application on certain Canadian sectors, highlighting the negative consequences of the application on cross-border travel and on the duties of border officers.

In his opening statement to the Committee, National President Weber was unequivocal: As far as Border Officers are concerned, the last few months have shown that ArriveCAN neither facilitates travel nor does it improve operational efficiency. In fact, it does just the opposite.

“Every Border Officer working on the frontline will tell you that the implementation of the ArriveCan application has seen processing times skyrocket” testified Mark Weber, pushing back against misleading CBSA figures. “Where a port of entry processed 60 cars per hour before, it now processes 30, if not less. At land borders, as far as traveler operations go, this means cars waiting for hours, and sometimes being redirected to another port further away. At airports, this means travelers piling up in and outside the customs area. In all locations, it translates into a frustrating experience for all involved.”

CBSA continues to rely on inefficient automated technology

Answering questions from Committee members, National President Weber also explained that while ArriveCAN was introduced to collect public health data, the application itself made the process needlessly complicated, and that simpler solutions ought to be considered. More importantly, the implementation of ArriveCAN has forced Border Officers to act more as IT consultants than law enforcement officers, further compounding the perennial issue of chronic understaffing at all levels of border operations.

Weber also took aim at CBSA’s poor use of technology, pointing out that the application “follows the same pattern of over-reliance on automated technology we have seen before with Primary Inspection Kiosks” resulting in a less efficient and less secure border.

Ultimately, if the government and its agencies wish to facilitate cross-border travel along with the flow of commercial goods in a safe and secure way, then ArriveCAN is a step in the wrong direction. “Technology certainly has its place” said Weber, “but it should be used to help travelers and assist officers, and not hinder them. By that metric, ArriveCan simply does not work”.

A recording of the Committee proceedings can be viewed here.

Response to the Montreal Gazette

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The following was sent by the CIU National President to the Montreal Gazette’s Editor in response to the article ‘Confusion swirls around ArriveCAN app and its use at the Canadian-U.S. border’, published Dec. 7, 2021.

In a perplexing article, the Montreal Gazette was recently reporting that the federal government was “reining in overzealous border guards” who had “ordered fully vaccinated Canadian travellers to spend 14 days in quarantine for failing to properly fill out the ArriveCAN application.”

Border Officers, who are expected to perform their duties according to the appropriate directives, do not draft public safety or public health policies, do not issue Emergency Orders in Council, and certainly do not design applications for travellers.

That is not to say that the process of entering Canada, made more complex by new policies issued in response to the ever-evolving pandemic, won’t be a source of confusion for some travellers. But it would be woefully misguided to blame Border Officers for a situation they have ultimately no control over, and to do so is to miss the target.

Indeed, officers do not have any leeway or discretionary powers when it comes to applying Orders in Council, and the order issued prior to December 7 essentially boiled down to: Travellers had to complete the ArriveCAN app prior to entering Canada via a land border port of entry, or they would need to quarantine for 14 days.

The above is not due to any ‘overzealousness’ on the part of officers. It is an order issued by the Canadian government, to be applied to all travellers, regardless of vaccination status. Moreover, while this can lead to frustrating situations, the order was phrased in a way that left no room for officers to accommodate travellers. This is of course compounded by the chronic understaffing of border services in general, meaning ports are not as efficient as they could be.

So, where does this leave travellers arriving in Canada? At time of writing, following updated directives issued earlier this week, the situation remains the following:

  • Travellers are still expected to fill the ArriveCAN app ahead of arrival. This is still mandatory.
  • As was previously the case, travellers who have not filled out ArriveCAN ahead of time can return to the U.S. to do so, and then re-enter Canada.
  • Conditions permitting, travellers can now fill out ArriveCAN once at a land border port, although that may not always be operationally feasible.
  • Travellers who proceed beyond the port of entry without completing the ArriveCAN app will still be required to quarantine.