Extend restrictions at the Canada-U.S. Border

Canada will extend restrictions on non-essential travel to the United States until July 21, Canadian officials said on Friday, as the country pushes hard to increase the percentage of people fully vaccinated.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said the decision was made in coordination with the United States. There are more and more calls to the United States to open the borders with Canada to non-essential travel, such as tourism, but less than 20% of Canadians are fully immunized.

“We continue to have cases across the country and we need to reduce them,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “At the same time, we also know that we need to reach our goal of 75% vaccinated with the first dose and at least 20% with the second dose before we can start relaxing the restrictions, because even a fully vaccinated person can transmit COVID. – 19 to someone who is not.

Trudeau said they need to ensure communities to which vaccinated travelers return are not at risk.

“While they are protected from hospitalization, the people around them may not be,” Trudeau said.

The restriction on non-essential travel at the Canada-U.S. Border was announced in March 2020 and has been extended monthly since then.

Even transit between some Canadian provinces is closed. Ontario and Quebec opened their borders for non-essential travel just this week. And the Atlantic provinces will remain closed to the rest of Canadian travelers at least until July.

The government hopes to have enough vaccines so that 80% of Canadians eligible to receive them are fully immunized by the end of July.

About 70% of Canadians eligible for the vaccine have received at least one dose, and delivery of second doses is accelerating this month and next. Canada has delayed the application of the second doses to immunize more people with the first one earlier while awaiting the arrival of new supplies.

Canada did not begin receiving vaccines produced in the United States until May, when Washington began allowing exports. Until then, he had received his vaccines mainly from Europe.

Blair said the government plans to release details of fully vaccinated Canadians returning to the country on Monday. The Trudeau government has said it expects vaccinated Canadian citizens who test negative for the coronavirus to be exempted from the 14-day quarantine upon their return home from July.

Trudeau said the government plans to have Canadians upload photos proving vaccination on an app so border officials can verify that a person is fully vaccinated when traveling this summer.

Two members of the United States Congress who co-chair the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group criticized the extension. Democrat Brian Higgins and Republican Bill Huizenga denounced the lack of transparency around Canada-U.S. Border talks and said it affects residents on both sides of the border who hope to see loved ones and reconnect business.

Perrin Beatty, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said policy should depend on the traveler’s vaccination, not nationality. He noted that France already allows Canadians and Americans to visit it, making it easier to travel abroad than within Canada and its closest neighbor. “What the government is doing is against science, economics and good public policy,” Beatty said.