Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being with us this morning. My only regret is that we did not have the opportunity to have this meeting several months earlier, with ArriveCAN and border restriction measures being lifted prior to our summer tourism season.
I want to begin with Dr. Chagla. Thank you for joining us.
On September 23, the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable welcomed the release of a report called “Evaluating Canada's Pandemic Border and Travel Policies: Lessons Learned”. You are one of the authors of that study. In the release, you're quoted as saying:
We have learned a lot since March 2020. It is no longer scientifically necessary or appropriate to use travel-related pandemic management tools almost three years after the start of COVID-19. Enough time has passed for us to make a scientific assessment as to whether the travel restrictions introduced by the federal government were successful in containing the spread of the virus and its variants.
I have just one question for you, Doctor. In your view, approximately when was it no longer necessary or appropriate to use travel-related pandemic management tools such as ArriveCAN at the border?