Police notified of 21,422 cases where travellers to Canada may have broken quarantine rules

OTTAWA -- Police have been notified for follow-up in more than 21,000 cases where travellers arriving in Canada either couldn’t be reached or showed “indication of noncompliance” with the mandatory 14-day quarantine rules. Of the 21,422 referrals from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to the RCMP, nearly 1,500 were identified as “priority cases” for physical check-ups.

The RCMP and PHAC both confirmed the figures to CTV News -- though few punishments have been doled out to any suspected rule-breakers. ” To date, 9 tickets have been reported to PHAC as being issued under the Contraventions Act for offences under the Quarantine Act, four of which were issued following a request made by PHAC for a physical verification (2 fines were issued by RCMP and 2 by the Ontario Provincial Police),” PHAC spokesperson Geoffroy Legault-Thivierge confirmed in an emailed statement sent to CTVNews.ca Tuesday evening. “As of July 9, 2020, no arrests have stemmed from PHAC-requested physical verification checks.”

In addition to these latest figures, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) confirmed to CTVNews.ca that some travellers indicated a desire not to comply with Canada’s rules as early as the moment they travelled across the border.

“As of July 3, 2020, the CBSA has referred information to both PHAC and the RCMP on 237 travellers who the CBSA believes may not have respected the requirement to quarantine or isolate and/or those who have signalled an unwillingness to comply,” said CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy in another emailed statement on Tuesday. Canada shut its borders to foreigners in mid-March, initially exempting U.S. residents from the new rules. But within days the Canada-U.S. border had also shuttered to all non-essential travel, an agreement that sources told CTV News on Tuesday would be extended to August 21.

As Canada shut its borders to all non-essential foreign travel, it also imposed a mandatory 14-day quarantine rule on March 21 for any travellers who do squeeze past the tightened ports of entry. According to Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Howard Njoo, most travellers are happy to play by the rules.........