The Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) broke the happy news: in the week 11- 17APR, over one million people travelled or returned to Canada.
It’s the first time since the start of the pandemic two years ago that traffic volumes at Canada’s combined air, land and sea borders have reached these levels.
While arrivals were only just over half of those in the week of the Easter long weekend immediately before the pandemic, this year saw nearly 5 times last year’s traffic, and almost 10 times the number of people entering into Canada in that week in April 2020:
- 2019, 15 - 21APR: 1,875,542 arrivals
- 2020, 06 - 12APR: 126,759 arrivals
- 2021, 29MAR -04APR: 214,055 arrivals
- 2022, 11 - 17APR: 1,053,523 arrivals
Travel recovery success comes at a price, however. The CBSA is warning of delays at Canadian points of entry this spring and summer due to new requirements that take longer to process.
It says that it “invests significant effort annually to plan and prepare for various peak periods,” and has also established updated processes for arrivals “ to improve the traveller experience and manage volumes.”
CBSA cites the International-to-Domestic and the International-to-International programs that “significantly decrease connection times,” as well as the Primary Inspection Kiosks and the free ArriveCAN App and website as examples of ways it’s helping process travellers through border points of entry faster and more efficiently.
However, it also advises travellers to “do their part” to keep lines moving and reduce their own time spent at border entry.
Pax should:
- have documentation (like passports) ready;
- remember ArriveCAN is still mandatory - including travellers’ COVID-19 vaccination information. Pax should make sure their info is uploaded within 72 hours before arriving at the Canadian border; and
- plan ahead by checking border wait times, and if possible, avoid crossing during peak times ot at busy ports of entry.
As travel restrictions and border requirements continue to evolve, CBSA encourages travellers to stay up to date with all current requirements by consulting the Government of Canada’s COVID travel and borders website.
