Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good day, committee members. My name is Monette Pasher. I'm the president of the Canadian Airports Council. I'm pleased to appear before you today on behalf of our members, Canada's airports, to speak to your study on the impacts of the ArriveCAN app.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that I join you today on the unceded territory of the Anishinabe Algonquin nation.
Like so many sectors, we are focused on learning lessons from the pandemic and leveraging tools to support more efficient travel. Part of that means finding ways to innovate and to create a streamlined process for passengers in Canada's airports as we see the return to travel. Canada's airports have long advocated for tools that create efficiencies at our border without compromising the integrity of our national security. Over our history, the airport sector has welcomed measures like border pre-clearance agreements and the NEXUS program, which have helped streamline the travel experience for passengers. We know that achieving greater efficiencies with border processing means deploying new technology solutions.
From the perspective of our members, digital tools must be the cornerstone of the future of air travel. To that end, ArriveCAN can be part of the solution rather than the problem, but only if it's used correctly. It is important to distinguish between the application itself and its use to manage the impacts of the pandemic. Now with the inclusion of the advance declaration within ArriveCAN, we have taken the first step down the path of using technology to support low-risk travellers.
Many of you have heard publicly from our members over the last several months that our sector had been advocating for all COVID-19 health checks and testing to be removed, as visitors were choosing not to come to Canada because of potentially being required to quarantine for 14 days. As of Saturday, these policies have officially changed, which we very much welcome and appreciate, but fusing public health checks with the customs process has unfortunately shrouded the true benefits that this technology can deliver to both our passengers and our airports.
When used to allow passengers to accomplish in advance via the application what they had traditionally been required to do at a kiosk in our airports, this tool presents a tremendous opportunity. There are notable benefits to moving away from using ArriveCAN for public health checks and toward using it as a tool to streamline existing border processes, which, it must be noted, was the intended purpose behind creating the platform in the first place.
Passengers can now complete their advance declaration using ArriveCAN up to 72 hours in advance at some of our airports. For travellers, this cuts down total processing time by more than half. That is quantifiable. It's a measurable improvement in processing times. That feature benefits travellers who choose to use the platform, but it also shrinks wait times for all travellers in line, whether they choose to use the app or the traditional route. It helps get everyone to their destination more quickly.
Our borders are essential to both our safety and our security. Getting travellers across boundaries more quickly does not require sacrificing either one. It simply requires us to use our resources practically and correctly to offer new and more sophisticated ways of accomplishing the same goals. Technology is key to that.
We ask our government leaders and our stakeholder partners to remain focused on working collaboratively with us so that we can deploy and implement those important tools. Rather than disregarding ArriveCAN, we should take stock of how it can be used best.
The result from the advance declaration function proves the value of doing just that. Now we need the legislative and regulatory authority under the Customs Act to fully modernize our border. We will continue to be a partner in making the right investments and decisions to help reduce processing times. It is what travellers expect.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to the discussion.