Impact of border measures and statistics - Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security: Minister's mandate letter (November 2, 2020)

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Overall: Weekly data

Overall, there has been a decline of 85% in travellers across the country in all modes versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
Traveller volumes at the border increased by approximately 2% between last week (October 19 to 25) and two weeks prior (October 6 to 12):
- 2% more U.S. air travel
- 2% more international air travel
- 5% more commercial truck drivers at the land border

Admissibility of foreign nationals under family reunification (from June 9 to October 29)

Orders in Council have been introduced that contain provisions which allow foreign nationals who are immediate family members of Canadian citizens and permanent residents to seek entry to Canada for the purpose of being with their family members
Thus far, 17,824 foreign nationals have been allowed to enter Canada for the purpose of family reunification. These travellers were destined to the following provinces/territories:
- Nova Scotia: 3
- New Brunswick: 410
- Quebec: 3,660
- Ontario: 7,305
- Manitoba: 183
- Saskatchewan: 100
- Alberta: 180
- British Columbia: 5,982
- Yukon: 1

Note: Immediate family members can enter Canada under the new OIC 27 and OIC 28 if: (1) they are asymptomatic (2) they are entering Canada to be with their immediate family member; and (3) they can demonstrate the intent to stay in Canada for a period of at least 15 days. In order for a foreign national to be allowed to enter Canada, the standard for entry must be met in full otherwise, they can be denied entry to Canada.

Travellers: Air mode (from March 22 to October 29)

Decrease of 96% in U.S. air travellers versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
Decrease of 89% of international air travellers arriving from other locations (other than the U.S.) versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
1,305 U.S. citizens and 390 foreign nationals travelling from the U.S. by air were denied entry into Canada
571 foreign nationals from locations other than the U.S. were also denied entry
3,645 air travellers responded positively to health screening questions nationally, and 454 travellers were referred^{Footnote 1} by the CBSA to a Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Quarantine Officer
9,444 asymptomatic travellers referred to PHAC for not having suitable accommodation to quarantine (April 17 to October 29)

Travellers: Land, rail and marine mode (from March 22 to October 29)

Overall decrease of 80% of highway volumes when compared to this same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
The number of individuals travelling by ferry has decreased by 100% when compared to this same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
The number of private boaters has decreased by 90% when compared to this same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
Passenger rail service has been suspended until further notice (decrease of 100%)
20,874 U.S. citizens, and 2,908 other foreign nationals, were denied entry due to non-essential travel
1,676 travellers arriving in land, rail and marine modes responded positively to health screening questions nationally, and 344 travellers were referred^{Footnote 1} by the CBSA to a PHAC Officer
4,010 asymptomatic travellers referred to PHAC for not having suitable accommodation to quarantine (April 17 to October 29)

Refugee claimants

Week over week, there has been a relatively consistent number of asylum seekers at the Canada/U.S. border since travel was restricted
Between March 21 and October 29:
- 929 claimants arriving at a port of entry met an exemption to the Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) and were allowed entry to Canada to proceed with their claim; and
- 32 claimants were admitted into Canada from the U.S. as an exception under the OICs; whereas
- 193 refugee claimants seeking entry to Canada were found to be ineligible under the STCA; and
- 193 refugee claimants seeking entry to Canada have been temporarily directed back to the U.S.

Canadians turned back at U.S. border (as of October 29)

There were 29 Canadians turned back at the U.S. border in air mode for non-essential travel, and 7,837 in land, rail and marine modes

Commercial operations: Year over year data

Overall, there has been an increase of 1% in commercial truck traffic versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up to October 29)
Overall, there has been an decrease of 2% in commercial releases in all modes versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up until October 28)
- Decrease of 4% in highway releases versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up until October 28)
- Decrease of 1% in air releases versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up until October 28)
- Increase of 13% in marine releases versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up until October 28)
- Decrease of 4% in rail releases versus the same period last year (over the last 7 days, up until October 28)
The service standard for Commercial Border Wait Times (45 minutes) was met 99.7% in the last week

Border Information Service (on October 28)

The CBSA's Border Information Service telephone line is now accessible 24/7 to respond to traveller and business queries
3,312 calls received
67% domestic calls to 33% international
77% traveller-related; 23% commercial-related
The most common questions were related to: admissibility (essential travel, immediate family and/or extended family members, transiting Canada), quarantine requirements/exemptions, immigration related enquiries (work/student permits), postal related enquiries (personal and commercial)

ArriveCAN (as of October 28)

Traveller processing has been streamlined through the implementation of web-based applications for submitting information on quarantine plans. Border Services Officers now spend less time with travellers and have more limited contact with them as they are no longer required to ask these questions on arrival
Reduced processing time will become even more important as we prepare for traveller volumes to increase
Since implementation, and up to October 28, the CBSA has used data obtained from web based applications (for example, ArriveCAN) to process 259,915 travellers in the air (180,008), land (79,837) and marine (70) modes