TORONTO -- More than 70 per cent of travellers who entered Canada since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have been exempt from the mandatory 14-day day quarantine, according to data provided by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
Of the 8.6 million travellers who have crossed the border by land or air since the federal Quarantine Act was implemented in March 2020, 74 per cent were allowed exemptions.
Truck drivers, who are exempt due to the “critical role in the trade or transportation sector and the movement of goods or people,” made up 50 per cent of those not required to quarantine.
Ninety-two per cent of travellers who arrived via land border crossings were exempt, 74 per cent of which were truck drivers and 18 per cent of which were cross-border or essential workers who cross the border regularly for employment reasons.
The remaining eight per cent of land travellers were exempt for undisclosed reasons.
The CBSA notes that 91 per cent of travellers who enter Canada by air are being required to quarantine, “as air travellers are less likely to meet an exemption outlined in section 6 of the Mandatory Isolation Order.”
Of the nine per cent of exempt air travellers, the majority were part of the trade or transport sector, including aircrew.
In order for a traveller to be exempt from mandatory quarantine requirements, they must meet an exception outlined in the order enforcing the Quarantine Act.
Over the course of the pandemic, separate exemptions have been made for certain close family members of Canadian citizens, but those travellers have largely been required to complete a 14-day self-isolation upon arrival.
As CTVNews.ca previously reported, a trio of federal ministers were able to grant national interest exemptions, allowing non-essential foreign nationals to enter Canada and bypass quarantine.
Travel volumes are down approximately 90 per cent overall compared to 2019. The vast majority of those entering Canada since enhanced border measures were enacted have done so by right, either as Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or persons registered as Indian under the Indian Act.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced all Canadian travellers returning from overseas will be required to take a COVID-19 test at the airport when they land and quarantine in a designated hotel for three days at their own expense while they await results – a cost that could exceed $2,000.
Canada's main airlines have also agreed to suspend service to all Caribbean destinations and Mexico until April 30 in an effort to further restrict international travel as more infectious variants of COVID-19 spread around the globe.
In the coming weeks, non-essential travellers will also have to show a negative test before entry at the land border with the United States.
