Starting Saturday all COVID-19 border restrictions will end, including mandatory vaccinations, testing and quarantine of international travellers, as well as mandatory masks on planes and trains.

Brandon-Souris MP Larry Maguire says this week's announcement was long overdue and he’s pleased the federal government is finally taking action.

“The government is doing away with the ArriveCan app and we’ve been calling for that for months and months. It’s done a lot of negative things like detaining seniors without cell phones for hours on end at the border and it’s had fully vaccinated travellers in quarantine for really no reason because they’re fully vaccinated.”

 

“It’s high time the app was done away with” said Maguire.

 

The change means Canada-bound travellers will no longer be subject to random mandatory COVID-19 tests, and unvaccinated Canadians will not need to isolate when they return to the country.

“I’ve been hearing from people crossing the border and these rules have certainly held up our industries and it has killed jobs and told visitors they weren’t welcome to Canada. We’ve got fishing and hunting lodges and lots of Americans like to come up for that kind of thing. But this is also about Canadians trying to get back into Canada as well.”

The ArriveCan app is set to expire but people can still use the app to submit customs and immigration declarations.

“The border will be completely open and vaccination requirements will be dropped along with mask requirements on planes and trains. A lot of people have been fined and I think those people should have the fines dropped or if they’ve paid have their money paid back and these fines should be immediately forgiven” said MP Larry maguire.

 

People looking to travel into North Dakota by land still have to be vaccinated.