What happened ever since? I ask because you're the first known case in this discussion since the random tests resumed with a somewhat different system on July, 19.

Question since I'm due to travel to Canada in 8 weeks and I can't see things changing before then.

As far as I'm aware, your ArriveCAN information can be done on a computer before you travel and a printed copy of the receipt can be presented at customs, yes? Therefore, say you don't want to take any devices with you that have email capabilities, and will only travel with paper documentation (which I always do just in case of device failure), if the only way you can be notified if you've been randomly selected for testing is by email, how will they tell you without email? Is this not glaring workaround to avoid being informed of selection or am I missing something here?

Yes, it's medical theatre.

The e-mail didn't mention the exemption at all. The online registration didn't mention it at all. The page on arrival testing doesn't mention it (although the other page linked by [MENTION=10103418]analogueman[/MENTION] does).

The first indication I had that I didn't have to do the test was the phone call.

After selecting that option, the recording told me I needed to keep proof of said positive test in case they asked me for it.

But at no point has there been any opportunity, let alone request, for me to supply such documentation. I've heard nothing since that phone call.

I strongly advise to not use the APP. I have only used the paper - every time - - only used my Swiss telephone number - never been called and never had any issue. Nobody has to use the APP - the website has always been active and available -- and you don't need a signal or anything to use paper.

Nothing...a couple of phone calls from an automated dialer for a few days and then silence.

The random arrival testing is not intended to detect all infected travellers and prevent spreading the virus, as they only select around 5% of travellers. It's only meant to gather statistics about the positivity rate and variant distribution, which the PHAC wants to track, in order to have early warning and be better prepared for new variants.

If this were true, the tests would be conducted anonymously. Or if not anonymous they could at least defer to provincial isolation restrictions rather than enforce a 10-day isolation from the date of the test.

If this were true they would only allow swabs that could be collected for detailed analysis. The quasi-self tests you do at home with a nurse on video link can’t detect and report on which variant you have.

If this were true they wouldn’t allow an exemption because you had a positive case 6 months ago, which doesn’t rule out you getting it again, and certainly doesn’t rule out you getting a new variant, which this broken system is apparently designed to monitor.

The government intention with the random arrival testing it to gather statistics. That's what the government says, and that's also the only reasonable explanation. I'm not saying that I support this, or that it's a smart or efficient method to gather survailance about incoming variants.

I agree that there are many issues with the way they implemented this as well. You have to realize that this random selection is sort of inherited some aspect from previous policies, when they wanted to test all incoming travelers, during the initial Omicron wave, to stop the spread of the disease. Back then, it made sense to quarantine travelers with positive results, and I think the requirement today is a leftover from that time.

Regarding your comment on variant sequencing, I think you are mistaken, as the swab is sent to the lab, which performs a the PCR test, and is able to also perform genetic sequencing to identify the specific variant.

At the time it would have made more sense to set up testing at random Walmarts or Costcos. They would have caught more positive cases. And it's not like domestic cases are less contagious than overseas travellers'. In fact, the latter might be more prone to avoiding social interaction.

It never made sense, nor does it now.

Agreed. I didn't say the way they implemented it made any sense. Another example here, is the exemption for recently receovered person. The exemption itself is reasonable, since we know a recovered person can test positive on a PCR test for several weeks or months, but they never provided a procedure for travelers to provide the proof of recovery, so many recovered persons had to be tested and got a (false) positive result.

Ummm... you "can't see things changing" ? How did you determine that ??
Why do you assume things will stay the same ?? Do you realize the current policy is a remnant of the covid emergency situation of the last two years, and as such it's temporary. So at some point "things" will change back to normal. This has been the case in other countries, and even in Canada the trend is defintely of slowly rolling back Covid restrictions.

Actually, the current policy is set to expire at the end of September, so there is a fair chance it won't be renewed. As usual, I expect the government to only anounce if the border measures are going to expire or be extended, only a few days before the end of September. But do take this into account and wait for the news before your trip.

Yes, the current policy is set to expire at the end of September, but as we head into autumn and winter, when case numbers are inevitably going to go in the wrong direction, can you really see the government relaxing the border measures? Hey, if they do, great. That'll make everybody happy. Guess we'll just have to wait until the end of September to see where things stand.

Or - it may have nothing whatsoever to do with the case count, and everything to do with the sunk costs of the contracts with Switch Health, etc and whomever designed that awful ArriveCan app.
I'm betting on the latter, and we'll see it renewed.

We are flying into YYZ on Friday. Assuming all goes well we are taking the train to Niagra ONT and spending the night there Tuesday. Our plan was to cross over to the NY side and pick up our rental car when we get in Tuesday morning and drive it back to our hotel on the Canadian side of the falls. We are driving to Cooperstown early Wednesday morning. This now seems like a bad idea. a)do we have to do further ArriveCan info for our "trip" across the border to Hertz in NY and then back to our hotel on the CA side? b)this also seems to set us up for another chance at random testing. I know some here say that there is no testing at land borders but that directly contradicts the information on the CA govt website. Land testing was never suspended even when the random air arrival testing was briefly suspended earlier this summer. I am now wondering if we should just stay in Canada and pick up our car Wednesday morning. The reason we were trying to avoid this is it's my understanding Uber/Lyft will not drive you across the border. We need to leave early Wednesday, so trying to cross the border on foot (with all our luggage for a 9 day trip) then get a Lyft to Hertz on the NY side seems like a giant pain. Any advice on that end (assuming I'm not in a 10 day quarantine)? I'm paranoid enough that I'd cancel this trip if it wasn't too late. :(

I have taken many taxis (not rideshare) across the border. No issues.

Thanks I'll check that option out!

You can also pick up the rental car in Canada and drop it off in the US, although it might be more expensive.
Two weeks ago, when I was in YUL at the enterprise-rent-a-car desk, and I noticed an American tourist who did exactly that. The agent told him that they're giving him a rental car with a US license plate, since he was goint to drive to the US and return it there (at least that's what I could gather from their conversation).

That was my original plan. We are returning the car to Albany. I checked all the major rental companies plus Expedia and Hotwire and all kinds of different combinations from Toronto area and Niagara ONT, returning to an NY location (Niagara NY, Utica, Syracuse, Albany) and I was not able to find a single itinerary that would show availability picking up in Canada and returning to the U.S. I know it's generally allowed - I just was not able to actually find anything in reality. I think I checked both the US and CA websites of several of the companies - I was not able to find anything between any CA and NY location.

Got randomly selected today on my return from MKE. I had stopped for lunch after landing and was literally across the street from the off site testing facility at International Centre when I got the email, so went in there and was in and out in a minute. But seriously thought about saying .... it and not even bothering to order the at home kit, maybe next time.

I do think this new email notification thing is infinitely worse than the old system of testing you right at the airport, or even better, handing you an at-home box as you leave. Don't know what idiot in Ottawa thought it was a good idea.

Wondering if next time, I can just drive to Buffalo and re-enter on a new ArriveCan submission instead.

Yes. Once you exit Canada there is no further requirement. Reentering Canada starts the process over again from scratch.

Any updated info on:

1) what happens if you ignore the email (it went to your spam folder, and you didn’t check it) and you don’t answer phone calls from unknown numbers.

2) it seems there is no way to provide a prior positive test result from the last 6 months, but someone mentioned that the automated phone call asks if that’s why you haven’t submitted a test specimen. So what happens if you choose that option on the phone system when they call you?

thanks

Nothing further from my post 125. I’m sure I’ve heard the last of it.

Will keep that in mind in the unlikely event my result comes back positive

I don't know what happens if you select the "exempt" option in the automated call, but I think the two possibilities are that either they accept your answer and simply stop calling, or they ask for the the proof (copy of the PCR test). I'm not sure what is more likely, but normally I would assume they would ask for the proof, so maybe you get transferred to an agent that tells you how to send it.

If only someone had provided this information just a few days ago :rolleyes:

And I’m guessing nobody has requested this proof yet? So in theory everyone could just select opinion four? Yep, medical theatre.

Yeah, I forgot about that.
Interestingly, the poster mentioned that "After selecting that option, the recording told me I needed to keep proof of said positive test in case they asked me for it."
How long do they expect you to keep the proof ? And how would they contact you to get it ? I don't think travellers are required to keep answering phone calls or respond to spam looking emails.

So if I'm understanding all of this correctly, a nonstop transborder flight such as SEA-YYJ/YEG/YLW there would be no random COVID testing requirement whatsoever?

Additionally, how would a flight going say DEN-YYC-YLW be handled where YYC is only a connection. Do you do complete the test in YLW?

TLDR: Yes & Yes.

Right, random testing is only done if you enter in one of the 4 largest airports, so it wouldn’t be applicable to any other airport.
As for a connection after arrival at YYC, I think you can be selected randomly, and in that case you should receive an email notification. You would then need to complete the test after you arrive to your final destination.

Imagine if you had one travel document to enter the country and a different document to leave. You know like Jason Bourne or something like that. ;)

Anyway this thread has made me feel much better about this process. Seems that even if you follow the rules within normal timelines short trips to Canada lasting only a couple days are, for all intents and purposes, exempt. Chances are you could be gone before you even get the results.

Nope, nobody has requested it. Although I just got tagged AGAIN and the e-mail says "Travellers who can provide proof of a prior positive COVID-19 molecular test result taken at least 10 calendar days and no more than 180 calendar days before entering Canada should report this when entering the country or by calling 1-833-641-0343 as soon as possible."

That text was not in the August 2nd version of the e-mail.

Obviously I've already entered the country so can't provide it when entering, which makes that particular bit of the e-mail a complete waste of electrons, not to mention the 800 hours of bureaucrats' time that went in to writing it, re-writing it, debating every last word, making sure it was consistent in both official languages...

I'm very tired of my tax dollars being frittered away on this nonsense.

Are you going to call them? If so, I’d appreciate hearing about how it went. Thank you.

Have you considered just ignoring them?

Not sure. I may just wait and see if they phone me in a few days to ask why I haven't done the test, then select the already-tested-positive option like last time.

Yes.

Landed at YVR today. Among first out of plane, no one in immigration hall, sailed through, etc. No one mentioned anything, no emails about tests, nothing.

I just logged into my ArriveCAN, and cannot see this trip. In the past, there would be daily check-ins I could do in the app, and since we travelled with unvaccinated under-12s, they have to quarantine for 14 days (yeah right, no one is missing 2 weeks of school). Is this normal? I suspect we will be getting robocalls starting tomorrow, as we did the other two trips abroad this year.

The only thing I did differently this time is add an apartment number to my single-family dwelling address. It may or may not have included some choice words and our Prime Minister's name, all in caps. A little surprised the app took it, as the apt # contained no numbers whatsoever.

Yeah, that part is stupid. Don’t you get the email 15 minutes after you’ve cleared customs? You can’t exactly go back and say, “Oh, by the way…”

This system. Has anybody got a clue what they’re doing?

They say "within 15 minutes" of clearing customs. I don't know the exact time I cleared customs, but the e-mail hit my inbox 5 minutes after I got picked up by an Uber. So I was definitely no longer in a position to just walk over to a CBSA officer and say "hey, about this testing thing..."

Haha, reminds me of a few months ago I was screened by a CBSA officer after landing, in a make shift stand they set up (so not the regular booths and desks), so even though she said I wasn’t selected for random testing, I asked to submit my proof of recovery just in case they later decide to select me retroactively (which happened to me before ), so she said “what am I gonna do with that?”. I said “pass it to the PHAC” so she said “How am I gonna do that?”. So I gave up. But maybe it’s possible to upload it into ArriveCan together with the vaccination proof ?

From the National Post this morning re: Detroit Free Press Marathon:
"Marathon organizers announced Wednesday that in addition to having proof of vaccination against COVID-19, which has already hurt registration numbers, runners must also carry an ArriveCAN receipt to enter Canada."
The Canadian section of the race is about 20 minutes.
Beyond ridiculous.

Well it would probably help if you familiarized yourself with the rules before you rant about things that don't apply to you. Unvaccinated under-12s do not have to quarantine for 14 days. So if you think you are standing up to The Man by sending them to school anyway, you aren't. They are allowed to go to school. Rather than protest against an imaginary rule that you think is stupid, why not read the rules? It isn't quite the protest you were hoping for.


https://travel.gc.ca/travel-covid/tr...ntering-canada

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children 5 through 11 years old

Unvaccinated and partially vaccinated children under the age of 12 aren’t required to provide a valid pre-entry test result, if they’re accompanying a fully vaccinated adult.

They’re exempt from quarantine, without any limitations on their activities. This means, for example, they don't need to wait 14 days before attending school, camp or daycare.