The Canadian government has admitted that some travellers were erroneously told to go into quarantine upon arriving in Canada due to glitches in the Trudeau government’s ArriveCAN app.
The federal government admitted that some travellers were told to go into quarantine by the app despite not actually being required to do so due to a glitch in the ArriveCAN app, a mobile phone app that is required to be used when entering Canada to confirm vaccination against the Wuhan virus.
Don and Karin Bennett stated that they received an email from the app after returning from a trip to the United States telling them they must quarantine, despite both of them being fully vaccinated.
“There’s the threatening language of fines of $5,000, plus potentially sending police to your house,” Mr Bennett told Canadian broadcaster CBC.
Audrey Champoux, press secretary to Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, later admitted that the ArrivaCAN app had suffered a “technical glitch” and that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) had identified the issue and was working on a solution.
Many travel and tourism industry experts have called into question the efficacy of the ArrivaCAN app, such as president and CEO of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada, Beth Potter, who questioned if the app was needed at all.
“Anything that is complicating the travel process, the travel journey right now is having a negative impact on the return of people travelling again,” Potter said.
Similar criticism from those in the travel industry came before the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suspended the travel ban for unvaccinated people last month. During the ban, unvaccinated people were not allowed to board aircraft for domestic or international flights and were not allowed to travel by rail between provinces or internationally.
Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc warned, however, that the suspension may only be temporary depending on the coronavirus situation in Canada.
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