Numbers provided by the government to demonstrate how easily travellers have adopted the ArriveCan application to enter Canada are “absolutely false,” according to a border guard union representative.
The representative, along with government officials and industry stakeholders, was testifying before the Standing Committee on International Trade on June 15, in a study on the impacts of ArriveCan on certain sectors.
Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) vice-president Denis Vinette said the app had a very high usage rate.
“We’ve had a successful traveller usage rate. As of May 2, [2022], over 99 percent of travellers in the air mode used ArriveCan and 94 percent used it in the land mode,” Vinette told the committee.
“The use of ArriveCan, which is mandatory, expedites processing, and helps protect the health and safety of travellers and our own CBSA employees,” he added.
Mark Weber, national president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents CBSA employees, disagrees. He said these figures are “absolutely false.”
“Those numbers are the percentages completed after we help [travellers] complete the app,” he said in the committee hearing.
Weber said that the average rate of travellers who complete the app successfully is closer to “75 to 80 percent” but said in some areas like the Eastern Townships of Quebec, the completion rate is closer to 60 percent.
“To complete [the app], essentially our officers now largely work as IT consultants—you have land borders that have essentially become parking lots for us to help people complete the app," he said.
“The last few months have shown that ArriveCan neither facilitates cross-border travel nor does it improve operational efficiency. In fact, it does exactly the opposite,” he added.
“Every border officer working on the front line will tell you that the implementation of the ArriveCan application has seen processing time skyrocket.”
Weber says ArriveCan is doubling the time to process cars at land crossings.
The Epoch Times contacted CBSA to obtain comment on Weber’s remarks regarding a discrepancy in figures.
In response, spokesperson CBSA Judith Gadbois-St-Cyr provided the same numbers as Vinette. “Border Services Officers are taking every opportunity to help educate travellers so they meet the requirements now and for future entries to Canada,” she said.
Industry stakeholders testifying also called for ArriveCan to be scrapped or reoriented.
David MacLachlan, executive director of tourism organization Destination Northern Ontario, said his sector has seen $100 million worth of cancellations in May, with the main reason being border restrictions.
Most of the tourists visiting Northern Ontario come from the U.S. by land, MacLachlan said.
“Simply said, our sector would like to see a suspension of the use of the ArriveCan app at our land border as soon as possible, and a cessation of all other border restrictions, especially as financial supports for the tourism sector have been withdrawn,” he said.
Mark Agnew, senior vice-president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, did not call for scrapping the app but rather reorienting it to “focus on streamlining customs procedures.”
“Ultimately, the app is in large measure a reflection of our country’s border policies,” he said, mentioning how the unvaccinated can now fly out of the country but need to be subjected to measures when coming back, which creates “pain points” of delay.
The ArriveCan app was introduced in April 2020. Every traveller entering Canada must input their personal information in the app within 72 hours of arrival, such as proof of vaccination or a quarantine plan.
The Liberal government has been under increased pressure in recent weeks to address bottlenecks at airports.
The government announced this week that unvaccinated Canadians would now be permitted to travel by plane, train, and marine vessels. Before that, it suspended random testing at airports. Random testing will be re-instated in July, but moved off-site.
Another app used by the government in relation to COVID-19 was decommissioned on June 17. Health Canada said it scrapped the tracing app COVID Alert “following a thorough review.”
