Question Period Note: OAG Audit Report on the Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID-19 Testing Orders

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• The Office of the Auditor General tabled the Audit of Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID-19 Testing Orders report on December 9, 2021.
• The Government of Canada lifted all border measures effective October 1, 2022.
• Protecting the health and safety of Canadians is the Government of Canada’s top priority.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada accepts the two recommendations from the Office of the Auditor General from this audit. Work is underway to address them.
• The Agency will continue to consider findings and recommendations from this audit report—along with other audits, evaluations and further lessons learned from the response to COVID-19—to inform planning and better position Canada to respond to future global health events.
• The Agency’s approach to border measures, like its guidance and advice, evolved during the pandemic. Public health advice will continue to be informed by the latest available scientific evidence, epidemiology and expert opinion, which can change as new information becomes available.

If pressed on data
• The Agency is working on improving its automated tracking and data quality so it can better follow up with travellers who are subject to border measures, if it is necessary to implement border measures again in the future.

If pressed on GBA
• The Agency is implementing GBA+ considerations to mitigate any potential adverse impacts of existing and future programs on diverse and vulnerable groups.

If pressed on contacting positive travellers
• The Public Health Agency of Canada attempted to contact all positive travellers. There are many potential reasons the Agency was unable to successfully reach them, including travellers not answering phones.
• These travellers would have been contacted by the Agency as part of the regular compliance verification activities through calls on days 5, 10 and 14. They would also have been subject to in-person compliance verification visits and police referrals, if required.
• All positive travellers were contacted directly by the labs.
• This was the layered approach that was been used throughout the pandemic: using multiple channels during the 14-day quarantine and coordinating with Provinces and Territories.

If pressed on ticketing
• The Public Health Agency of Canada accepts the Auditor General's recommendation that it improve its capability to achieve a more consistent enforcement approach.
• The Agency worked closely with local law enforcement agencies and received data on most enforcement actions taken under the Quarantine Act (e.g., quarantine tickets issued, outcomes of high priority referrals). Law enforcement agencies acted independently and were not required to send information to the Public Health Agency of Canada on the outcomes of their activities. As such, there may be enforcement actions that are not reflected in the data that the Agency has on file.

If pressed on Government-Authorized Accommodations

• The government-authorized accommodations were privately-owned and operated hotels that had applied and demonstrated they met the Public Health Agency of Canada’s requirements to be a GAA. The Government of Canada did not collect any revenue from the GAA program as travellers were paying the accommodation costs directly to the hotel, which was to deliver all services to their clients.
• These hotels were responsible for providing and ensuring secured accommodations, three meals per day based on Canada’s Food Guide and food restrictions, safe transportation for travellers from the airport to the hotel, controlled and monitored entry and exit points, and overall traveller safety based on federal, provincial and local public health guidance. They were also required to provide travellers with necessities in a safe and accessible manner.

If pressed on Designated Quarantine Facilities
• The Public Health Agency of Canada managed the operations of its designated quarantine facilities with a combination of its own employees, hotels, and contracted services providers, who provided a range of services such as transportation to the quarantine site, lodging, security, traveller registration, delivery of three meals per day, and delivery of essential items.
• The Agency took complaints from travellers at designated quarantine facilities seriously and worked with its service providers to ensure that standard services were provided for travellers.

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) directed the implementation of border restrictions and border control measures to help prevent travellers from spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 in Canada.
On March 25, 2020, the first series of emergency orders imposing a nationwide mandatory quarantine under the Quarantine Act came into effect.
This audit follows up on some of the findings of the Audit of Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures, which covered the period from January 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020, and which was tabled on March 25, 2021.

The objective of this audit was to determine whether PHAC implemented testing and quarantine requirements for incoming travellers to limit the introduction and spread of the COVID‑19 virus and its variants in Canada.
The Office of the Auditor General made two recommendations to the Agency:
• That the Agency improve its enforcement of emergency orders imposed to limit the spread of COVID-19 by:
• improving its automated tracking and data quality so it can better follow up with travellers who are subject to border measures
• implementing GBA+ considerations to mitigate any potential adverse impacts of existing and future programs on diverse and vulnerable groups.
• That the Agency should:
• better use information on the outcomes of its referral for follow-up, to assess whether its enforcement approach is working to limit the introduction of COVID-19 and its variants.
• Improve its capability to achieve a consistent enforcement approach to border measures nationwide, including exploring other tools that could be used in all Canadian jurisdictions.
Work is underway to address these recommendations.
The agency plans to implement the following actions to address the recommendations from this audit:
• It will review its IT systems and broad requirements to improve data and address issues related to the consistency and quality of data used for matching test results to traveller records.
• It will improve and streamline methods for assessing data quality internally.
• It will identify requirements for an automated tracking process based on lessons learned while COVID-19 border measures were in place.
• It will continue to provide specialized training on gender and diversity considerations to frontline staff at the border and at designated quarantine facilities, including training on bias (launched in September 2021), security awareness and de escalation.
• It will update its GBA+ analysis and incorporate results in the implementation of future border measures.
• It will continue to engage with law enforcement partners.
• It will assess additional mechanisms to enforce the Quarantine Act more consistently nationally.
• It will continue to engage with its provincial and territorial counterparts to ensure maximum collaboration.

• The Audit of Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID-19 Testing Orders, which covered the period from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021, focused on whether the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) improved its administration of mandatory quarantine orders to limit the introduction of the COVID-19 virus and its variants in Canada.
• It also focused on whether PHAC implemented and enforced additional border measures introduced in early 2021 (such as COVID-19 testing for travellers entering Canada and quarantine of air travellers at government-authorized hotels pending the results of their on-arrival COVID-19 tests.)
• This audit follows the Audit of Pandemic Preparedness, Surveillance, and Border Control Measures which was tabled on March 25, 2021.