Random arrival testing
 

I know this is being temporarily paused, but how likely / how much of this has Canada been doing on arrivals to different places?

I am flying into Montreal mid-July from Morocco and just a bit nervous on the (hopefully unlikely) chance we have something asymptomatic from our travels then. With 3 weeks of expensive travel in Canada (first time visitor), I would hate to lose it all when having to quarantine.

Am I correct from reading in this forum that you are told afterwards and then have to go somewhere to get tested? Or how does it work when you are selected (and how do you know if you are selected)?

Thanks!

According to the rules, they (CBSA) have to tell you at the airport and give you instructions, and then you are directed to the testing area before exiting the airport. After a few days you get an automated call (from PHAC) that asks for the tests results (apparently they don't get it directly from the testing provider, at least not if it's negative).

However, a lot of people that were randomly selected by the computer (and thus PHAC expects them to get tested), were not notified or asked to get tested at the airport, so they were surprised to get the phone calls (also an email) after a few days, that tells them they have been selected. Please note that this chain of events is in complete violation of the arrival testing rules and procedures that are published by the government, however most people accept it because it's very hard to get to a live person on the phone and explain to the PHAC that CBSA made a mistake and forgot to notify you of being selected. So in this case, you call the testing provider to ask that they send you a home test, and then you do the test in a video call, and send them the sample, and finally get the results. This usually takes 1-2 weeks.

They said they were aware that this happens, so I hope that when (and if) the arrival testing resumes, there will be a way to resolve mistakes like that, because it's quite stressful to deal with this for two weeks after arrival. My general advice, is to specifically ask the CBSA agent that examines your passport, if you are selected or not. If you are selected, it's best to just do it at the airport IMO.

BTW, I'm not recommending this, but I actually asked to get a confirmation that I wasn't selected in writing but the CBSA agent refused. But at least I got a verbal confirmation of not being selected. So that hopefully reduces the chance of mistakes, and being unknowingly selected.

I just got a green sticker from CBSA on my passport which meant I wasn’t selected.

What's the percentage who are selected? Do we know?

I also got a green sticker, but I was still marked as selected in the computer system, so a few days later I started getting the automated calls from PHAC. The point is a lot of people get a green sticker and are not told anything about being selected, but are marked as “selected” in the system.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...port-1.6481934

Yes, it was about 5%

5% of a flight or 5% of the people in the customs area?

It’s over 5% of the travellers arriving to Canada on international flights. The latest weekly data is for the week of 5/29-6/4 shows 27k tests completed and 479k arriving travellers by air, which is 5.6%.

I have no doubt that this is the procedure...but seriously. Does this make sense to anyone? You get tested several days after arrival, and find out 7-10 days after that if you'd been infected. What exactly does that accomplish? I think I'll continue my current practice of ignoring the whole charade.

I didn’t say that is the proper procedure, just that most people don’t try to fight it, even though it’s very legally dubious that they notify you after a few days.

And I suppose a lot of people ignore it, or treat the notifications as spam, as you can see in the comments to the article below :

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...port-1.6481934

Speaking to someone who recently returned to YYZ from FRA, their flight was 1 in 3. After standing in line for several minutes she knew she was "safe" when the guy ahead of her got a pink sticker.

The only way this nonsense is going away is if most people refuse to comply. I’ve done my bit. Several other posters on this forum have also said enough is enough.

What exactly do you mean by "ignoring the whole charade"? Once you've been selected for testing, you will just not report the result, as they don't know who has(n't) been selected for testing anyway? And then you just pretend they notified you by mistake and you have not been selected for a test at all?

By not participating at all.

My understanding is that after being selected for arrival testing, they would keep calling you, every few days, until you provide them with the test results. This is mostly done using automated calls. I believe that eventually a human PHAC rep will call you to check if you already completed the test. It might not be advisable to avoid these calls, or refuse taking the test, as it might result in some fines, although I'm not sure how strict or fullprrof this system is.

I refused the whole thing in December at YYC. Just walked out after being randomly selected. I never got a call...and haven't had a problem at CBSA in three subsequent arrivals. That said, I never answer calls with an unknown or unidentified number, so they may have tried. In any event, I highly doubt there'll ever be a follow up or a fine. They, too, know it's all theatre.

I never did any if the mandatory tests. Travelled to Canada every month in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Still have 8 blue boxes on my desk. No one has ever said anything.

Does anyone know anything about the mandatory random Covid testing at Canadian LAND borders? I last crossed the USA-Canada border in October, back when they required mandatory pre-arrival testing. I saw that they were still randoming pulling over people for an additional test, and I understand this program is NOT paused. Is there a way to game NOT being selected? Are some border crossings more like to test than others, or are there certain times for testing? I'm crossing again next week and, obviously, I don't want any of this random hassle.

BTW, do any of the Provinces still require visitors to register?

From the Government of Canada website:
"In addition, the pause of mandatory random testing will continue at all airports until mid-July, for travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated. The pause was put in place on June 11, 2022, and is allowing airports to focus on streamlining their operations, while the Government of Canada moves forward with its planned move of COVID-19 testing for air travellers outside of airports to select test provider stores, pharmacies, or by virtual appointment. Mandatory random testing continues at land border points of entry, with no changes."

Unfortunately you are correct. We crossed at Lewiston/Queenston last week in a long lineup and about 50% of Canadian plates were pulled over to the yellow light area for secondaries of some sort, and about one in five US plates, based on 30 minutes or so of direct observation. That was the main reason for the back-up. We lucked into a shift change right before our turn and were waved through - possibly just because the holding area was full to overflowing.

I have been going back and forth over the 3 Buffalo land borders every few weeks and haven’t seen any random testing.

Any update on when the airport random arrival testing will begin again?

Is it antigen or PCR? We had covid last month so slightly nervous it would still be positive on PCR if that's what it is - but our country stopped testing so we have no proof of our covid from last month.

We arrive in just over a week and hoping to avoid it coming back...

I believe they only said mid-July. Didn't give an exact date.

Yeah I can guarantee that’s not happening.

You don’t think they’ll have it ready in time?

I just don't see it happening at all.

a) taking up time and space for such a useless chore would be completely tonedeaf to the chaotic situation (especially in YYZ)
b) no need for such measures in an endemic phase
c) you would have to be out of your mind to actually leave the airport and go to some testing facility because you were randomly selected. No one is ever going to do this
d) no, they won't have the program ready in time

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-heal...ravellers.html

Starting back again next Tuesday.......

Eye roll.

Don't you see the federal government won't let it go anytime soon? lol

My BA flight for October got cancelled yesterday. I was going to book on another airline. That was until this news came out. Can't afford running the risk of taking a test that comes back positive and having to isolate for 10 days. Wouldn't care, was looking forward to coming. What the hell are you playing at, Canada?

That's easy, as much as it pains me just don't come here and spend your hard-earned money in a country that actually welcomes tourists, not in this madhouse.

Just out of random curiosity, on the press release it says the following:

Does that mean if you complete the Advance CBSA Declaration on the ArriveCAN app in the 72 hours before you travel, you'd find out before you even start travelling whether or not you'd been selected, or are you possibly selected at customs in the airport?

We arrive on the 20th. FFS
is it PCR? I assume yes? We were all positive around 15-20 June, wonder what the chances are of the PCR being positive a month on?

Edit: finally tested negative around 23/25 June, so not even that long ago. :/

People here seem to be recommending to just if ore and not test when told to test, but that seems like a very very risky strategy especially as a tourist/non Canadian...

Do you have proof of a positive PCR result? That should exempt you from the random test if selected.

No, the UK stopped providing PCRs back in April or May, so we have nothing. My PCR positive from January is still valid for exemption, but that's only me, not the other two of us.

3 weeks after going negative on antigen seems very high risk for the other two :(

If it was really about surveillance of new variants it should be anonymous testing. It makes absolutely no sense to keep enforcing these weird federal 10 day quarantines long after everyone has stopped caring about COVID, including our provincial governments.

I was hoping for this but see now it is only Toronto and Vancouver. :(

Maybe just maybe the government is still using COVID for political reasons because good Canadians care about protecting each other and all that stuff.

According to one article I read, the test are only at YYZ, YVR, YUL, and YYC - does that mean you could get around the possibility of being selected by flying into another airport (i.e. YQB)?

I am now using YTZ exclusively instead of YYZ.