More pandemic border measures easing Monday, masks still required for travel

As of Monday travellers entering Canada will face fewer pandemic border measures.

Unvaccinated children under the age of 12 travelling with a fully vaccinated adult will no longer need a COVID-19 test to travel to Canada.

Pre-entry tests will still be needed for partially vaccinated or unvaccinated travellers.

Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to wear a mask for 14 days, keep a list of contacts or report COVID-19 symptoms.

Airports will still conduct random mandatory COVID-19 tests on travellers as they arrive, but the focus will be on the four major Canadian airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal.

One measure that is not changing is the mandate that all passengers, regardless of vaccination status, must continue to wear a mask throughout their entire travel journey.

This is bound to create some confusion as airlines in the United States dropped their mask mandates after a Florida judge ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in enacting the mandate on public transportation in the first place.

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Combined with the fact that many provinces have announced plans to scrap their own mandates, that has prompted some to question whether Canadians should have to mask up on planes and trains.

All travellers will still be required to use the ArriveCAN app to provide mandatory travel information within 72 hours of their arrival to Canada and/or before boarding a plane or cruise ship destined for Canada. Fully vaccinated travellers who fail to do so won’t be eligible for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption, may face additional delays at the border for public health questioning, and may be subject to fines or other enforcement action.