Pack your patience and expect delays at Canadian airports over new rules

Canada’s new travel rules have led to a lot of confusion since they were announced this week. On Friday, the federal government attempted to clear up some of the questions.

Canada’s Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, spoke about how the government’s arrival testing and isolation rules, put in place to due to the Omicron variant, are being “progressively” implemented.

Some Canadians arriving back in the country have complained of confusing rules that are hard to follow, and say they need better information from the federal government on how to get home.

Duclos said last week that the new measures would take hold immediately, he could not give a timeline for when the on-arrival test and isolation rules would be fully implemented at all airports, only to say the rules would be “ramping up over time across the country.”

“The speed varies with airports,” said Duclos.

He says staffing, physical space and available tests are among the factors that need to be sorted out at each airport.

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What we know so far about the new rules:

The new measures mean Canadians, permanent residents and fully vaccinated international travellers arriving at Canadian airports from non-U.S. destinations will be tested on arrival, or receive a test to take home.

They must then self-isolate until they receive negative test results, which the government says could take up to three days. If they test positive then they must quarantine for 14 days.

Unvaccinated travellers will be required to remain in a designated quarantine facility for their entire quarantine period.

Vancouver International and Toronto’s Pearson are among the airports considering a combination of onsite and take-home testing to help keep people moving through an already jam-packed arrivals areas.

Once a fully vaccinated passenger lands from any destination, excluding the U.S., they will either be swabbed or take a test home.

That person has to self-isolate while waiting for their results. If it’s negative, they can go do what they want, it’s it positive, they have to quarantine for two weeks.

If a passenger has a connecting flight, they get swabbed or get a take-home test and then fly to their final destination and take it there and follow the same rules we just mentioned.

Airports asking for patience

The goal is for things not to be chaotic when people land at airports across the country, but there will very likely be long lines, according to an expert.

Daniel-Robert Gooch, president of the Canadian Airport Council, says a lot of airports nation-wide are still waiting for direction about just how different things will be and how it’ll work.

“There’s been some back and forth in terms of whether it would be a take-home test or a test on-site, we expect it will be some combination of the two but there still are a lot of questions about exactly what that will look like.”

Some of the airports considering doing just that include Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Toronto’s Pearson International. YVR says, “We’re currently collaborating with the government on the best way to implement these changes at YVR, recognizing that a combination of onsite and off-airport testing must be considered to accommodate the volume of tests contemplated.”

Gooch says anyone travelling through an airport as we enter the busy holiday travel season, should pad out their schedule with more time.

“Understand that the situation is evolving, that certainly when you’re travelling, your airline worker, your airport worker is not responsible for any of the decisions that have been made or the processes that have been put in place.”

He suggests checking everything about the destination you’re flying to and returning from before landing so you know what’s expected of you to get home. “Information is really power when it comes to this. Be informed. Know what the rules are but certainly we’re hoping and working towards a situation where it should go smoothly.”

President of the Canadian Airport Council Daniel-Robert Gooch says the goal of every airport is to move people along and asks for patience as they figure out how this is going to work.

“Understand that the situation is evolving. That the airport worker was not responsible for the decisions that have been made or the processes in place,” Gooch said.

“Information is really power when it comes to this, but certainly we are hoping and working towards a situation where this should go smoothly,” he said.

Other travel rules in place:

The United States has not been included in any new restrictions despite confirming cases of the new Omicron variant. Canada’s Minister of Health conceded there will be community spread in the U.S., but says there is none of “significant magnitude” at this time. So for the time being, things will remain the same at Canada’s land borders.

“No intention at this time to move away from our focus of airports,” says Duclos. “That is what we are going to invest our resources in because that’s what public health officials are recommending.”

He says the no-fly list is for countries with obvious signs of travellers with Omicron, and the more general set of rules are in place for everywhere else.

“We are working very closely with our American friends, I’ve been in contact with them over the last few days. We know that this is a matter of common interest because of our land border.”

The federal government has implemented a travel ban on 10 African nations, any foreign nationals who have travelled through the country in the last two weeks are temporarily barred from entering the country.

An Ontario infectious disease specialist says there is evidence testing all travellers before and after they arrive in Canada will identify most cases of COVID-19 coming into the country.

Dr. Zain Chagla says playing “whack-a-mole” with travel bans affecting only some countries is based on political expediency, not science.

He points to the start of the pandemic when Canada’s travel policies targeted China and Iran, and COVID-19 rapidly entered Canada from the United States and western Europe.

Chagla says Omicron is already spreading in multiple countries not targeted by Canada’s travel ban including the United States, which isn’t even being subjected to enhanced testing policies yet.

With files from CityNews reporter Mark Douglas and the Canadian Press