Question Period Note: ArriveCan

ArriveCAN was launched in April 2020 to support the digital submission of mandatory public health information required from travellers coming into Canada. ArriveCAN repeatedly evolved in lockstep with the Emergency Orders in Council implementing public health measures at the border to protect Canadians, limit importation and spread of COVID, limit pressures on the Canadian health care system and to eventually support resumption of commercial travel.
The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) tabled an audit report on February 12, 2024, which examined the management of procurement and expected deliverables of the ArriveCAN application with due regard for value for money. The OAG concluded that overall, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development, and implementation of the ArriveCAN application. One recommendation implicated the Public Health Agency of Canada.

• Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada took a comprehensive, layered approach to border management informed by available data, operational considerations, scientific evidence, and monitoring of the epidemiological situation and pandemic response capacity.
• ArriveCAN was the tool that enabled the Government of Canada to implement, adjust and remove important public health measures at the border, as the pandemic evolved.
• Reliable, timely and relevant data was crucial at the time to inform policy and decision-making in public health emergencies.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada accepts the Auditor General’s recommendation.
IF PRESSED ON THE FINDINGS OF THE AUDITOR GENERAL’S REPORT
• The Agency is strengthening existing guidance, supporting tools and training to address the recommendation to document interactions and the reasons for decisions made during non-competitive procurement processes.
• The recommendation also calls for a process to ensure compliance with contracting policies. PHAC is updating its quality assurance protocols to ensure that these requirements are met.
• The findings also point to the importance of formally documenting roles and responsibilities at the outset of a project, rather than at a later stage. This is being incorporated into the Agency’s preparedness and contingency plans for future emergencies.
IF PRESSED ON THE FINDINGS IN THE PRIVACY COMMISSIONER’S SPECIAL REPORT

• The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s investigation on ArriveCAN, found that the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canada Border Services Agency acted in accordance with the Privacy Act with regard to the collection, use, disclosure, and retention of personal information.
• Throughout the pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada consulted its internal privacy experts to ensure that the Government of Canada’s use of data followed best practices.
• Overall, the collection of personal information under the Emergency Orders by both agencies was determined to be necessary and proportional.
IF PRESSED ABOUT TRAVELLERS ERRONEOUSLY SENT TO QUARANTINE DUE TO A GLITCH WITH ARRIVECAN

• At the time of the event, PHAC worked closely with CBSA to make sure all affected travellers were contacted and informed of the error and advised that they were not required to quarantine.
• PHAC also worked with Service Canada, who managed the ArriveCAN help line for travellers, to inform any travellers who called with questions.
• No traveller was sent to a Designated Quarantine Facilities because of this system error.
IF PRESSED ON CONTRACTS
• PHAC did not contract with any company or vendor for the development, maintenance, testing, or operations of the ArriveCAN technology.
• PHAC contracted with KPMG to provide professional expertise to understand and analyze the processes and impacts of public health policies on travellers.

To support the administration and enforcement of the Quarantine Act and Emergency Orders made under it, CBSA and PHAC developed ArriveCAN, an integrated digital solution that enables real-time collection of information at Canadian Ports of Entry (POE) for all incoming travellers. ArriveCAN enabled travellers to provide their information digitally as required by the Emergency Orders made under the Quarantine Act, to support compliance,enforcement and public health measures.

ArriveCAN first launched in April 2020 and is available as a mobile app on the Apple App and Google Play stores or by signing in online at Canada.ca/ArriveCAN.

Implementation of ArriveCAN

In February 2020, Canada began collecting mandatory information from travellers who had been in specific geographical locations in the previous two weeks, such as Hubei province in China, Italy and Iran. Travellers submitted this information via the Coronavirus Form.
The Coronavirus Form was modified to become the Traveller Contact Information Form to support the first Mandatory Isolation Order in late March 2020. The form was made available digitally via a website in March 2020.

Due to the volume of travellers entering Canada, the paper forms quickly became operationally inefficient and resulted in inaccurate or incomplete submissions and lengthy digitization processing that led to delays in sharing the information with the provinces and territories. It also resulted in traveller line-ups at airports and border crossings -- raising concerns about increasing the risk for spreading the virus in those areas -- and made it difficult to fully administer the border measures and ensure essential travel and transit of people and goods.

ArriveCAN was launched in April 2020 as a joint initiative between the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to allow travellers to voluntarily provide their public health information. Later, to further support the implementation of the emergency border measures, the use of ArriveCAN became mandatory for air travellers in November 2020, and later for travellers by land and marine. The app and sign-in online platform reduced points of contact at POEs, improved processing times at the border and reduced crowding, and allowed for faster sharing of information with provinces and territories.

Mandatory Digital Submission

ArriveCAN stopped being mandatory as of October 1, 2022.

Submission of traveller information using ArriveCAN was initially voluntary. However, on November 21, 2020, it became mandatory for air travellers to submit their information digitally in advance of arriving in Canada (i.e., before boarding the aircraft to Canada). At the time, travellers entering Canada by air accounted for approximately 20% of all travel. As of February 22, 2021, it became mandatory for travellers entering via land to submit their information through ArriveCAN prior to arriving at the border crossing. Travellers entering Canada by land accounted for approximately 78% of total travel.

Travellers were not denied boarding their aircraft for failing to comply with the digital requirements; however, they faced potential enforcement actions upon entry ranging from a verbal warning to a $5,000 fine.

Once in Canada, it was mandatory for non-exempt travellers from all modes (air, land, marine) to provide information digitally, including daily symptom self-assessments, throughout their 14-day quarantine, and confirm that they have reached their place of quarantine through ArriveCAN or the toll-free number.

Although exempt travellers were mandated to provide contact information in advance if travelling by air or land, they were exempt from post-border reporting as they were exempt from the mandatory isolation order. Approximately 75% of travellers were exempt from the mandatory requirement to quarantine, including travellers who entered Canada for the purpose of performing cross-border work, medical support, essential services, or trade or transport.

During the period when the mandatory requirements were in effect, usage of ArriveCAN for air travellers was consistently at or above 85% and above 80% for land travellers since January 2022. Information provided through ArriveCAN was shared with provinces and territories and law enforcement agencies for public health follow-up and to verify compliance with the Quarantine Act. ArriveCAN was part of a broader suite of activities and tools supporting Canada’s evolving border policies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Health Agency of Canada continues to explore how digital tools can further support Canada’s public health data needs.

Privacy Commissioner’s Report

In the first months of 2022, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) received several privacy complaints about the collection and use of traveller data via the ArriveCAN app and website. The Privacy Commissioner’s Special Report, tabled in Parliament on May 30, 2023, indicates that these complaints were not well-founded.

In particular, the collection, use, disclosure, retention, and disposal of information by CBSA and PHAC for the purposes of administering and enforcing the Emergency Orders was compliant with the Privacy Act.

Contracts

PHAC contracted with KPMG to provide professional expertise to understand and analyze the processes and impacts of public health policies on travellers, including through: developing process maps; identifying and describing stakeholders to support their engagement; and performing jurisdictional scans.

Using the information that was available, the OAG estimated the cost of the application to be approximately $59.5 million.
Overall, there were a total of 83 different Emergency Orders in Council issued to respond to the evolving pandemic. From the time ArriveCAN was launched in April 2020 until the health requirements were lifted in October 2022, a total of 177 versions of the application were released, of which 25 were considered major releases.
ArriveCAN was used for more than 60 million digital submissions.
In her December 2021 Report 15, Enforcement of Quarantine and COVID-19 Testing Orders—Public Health Agency of Canada, and the report tabled on February 12, 2024, the Auditor General highlighted the utility of ArriveCAN with respect to improving the timeliness and quality of data received at the borders.
ArriveCAN facilitated the safe resumption of international travel, which saw an increase of approximately 1,000 air arrivals per day in April 2020 to 50,000 air arrivals per day in April 2022.