The federal government has hinted that ArriveCAN, originally intended to provide travel and public health information during the COVID-19 pandemic, may be kept beyond the pandemic. Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino recently signalled the Liberal government’s plan to use the app to “modernize our border” and allow travellers to complete their customs declaration forms in place of the traditional paper forms and digital kiosks installed in Canadian airports.
“ArriveCAN was originally created for COVID-19, but it has technological capacity beyond that,” Mendicino said during a press conference on June 28.
The app, launched in April 2020, was initially a short-term policy to ensure travellers entering Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic would comply with the government’s 14-day quarantine rules. In November that year, it was made mandatory for all travellers, which Ottawa said would help contain the spread of COVID-19 and reduce imported cases.