Government Relations Report Ron Steeves First Vice-President As we prepare for the upcoming travel season, it is essential to keep up to date on the latest cross-border travel measures in both Canada and the United States. As a reminder, all non-immigrant, non-U.S. citizen air travellers to the United States must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination status prior to boarding an airplane to the United States. In addition, foreign nationals must also be fully vaccinated to enter the United States at land ports of entry (POE) and ferry terminals. Exemptions, which are outlined on the CDC website (cdc.gov), are considered on a limited basis. Fully vaccinated travellers do not need to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter the United States by air, land or sea. Since my last report, mandatory random COVID-19 testing has been reinstated for fully vaccinated travellers arriving in Canada by air to the four major Canadian airports – Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Toronto – effective July 19, 2022. To qualify as a fully vaccinated traveller to Canada, travellers must have been vaccinated with a primary series of a COVID-19 vaccine accepted by the Government of Canada for the purpose of travel at least 14 calendar days before entering Canada. All testing for air travellers, for both those who qualify as fully vaccinated and partially or unvaccinated people, is now completed outside of airports, either via an in-person appointment at select testing provider locations and pharmacies, or a virtual appointment for a self-swab test. Travellers who do not qualify as fully vaccinated, unless exempt, must continue to test on Day 1 and Day 8 of their mandatory 14-day quarantine. Air travellers who qualify as fully vaccinated and who are selected for mandatory random testing, as well as air travellers who do not qualify as fully vaccinated, will receive an email notification within 15 minutes of completing their customs declaration. The email will contain information to help them arrange for their test with a testing provider in their region. Unvaccinated travellers can complete their tests by either a virtual appointment or an in-person appointment with the test provider at their store, or at select pharmacies, and still respect their quarantine requirements. All travellers must continue to use ArriveCAN to provide mandatory travel information within 72 hours before their arrival in Canada, and/or before boarding a cruise ship destined for Canada, with few exceptions. All vaccinated travellers who are randomly selected for the border-testing surveillance program must complete arrival mandatory testing requirements. If your arrival test result is positive, you must go into isolation and follow the federal requirement to isolate for 10 days from the date of the test result. Your 10-day isolation is required, even if the isolation requirement is shorter in your province or territory. As these measures are subject to change, travellers are advised to visit travel.gc.ca/ travel-covid prior to their return to Canada. The CSA will continue to provide members with electronic updates via our member email advisories as government policies are amended. Canadian Snowbird Association staff is currently working on the ninth edition of our Canadian Travellers’ Report Card. The CSA’s report card, which we publish every two years, examines five key areas of importance to travellers.These areas include: the preservation of health coverage; access to emergency health care; prescription medication supply policies; voting rights; and availability of government information. We research the practices and policies of the federal, provincial and territorial governments and give each government an opportunity to comment. Each jurisdiction is then graded by an independent third party. The report card is an effective tool which CSA representatives utilize when lobbying provincial and territorial governments regarding these issues. The full version of the last edition of the Canadian Travellers’ Report Card can be accessed on our website, www.snowbirds.org. Lastly, we are looking for volunteer co-ordinators for the Nova Scotia, PEI and Ontario provincial picnic events which are held annually in Florida and sponsored by the CSA. Traditionally, these events have been held at Lake Seminole Park or Fort DeSoto Park near the Gulf of Mexico. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer co-ordinator, please contact me, Ron Steeves – CSA 1st Vice-President, at atlcsa@nbnet.nb.ca. Judy and I wish you safe travels. CSANews | FALL 2022 | 11
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