Public Safety Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

So whatever the full three hours is, if it means shortening this by five, 10 or 15 minutes, whatever it might be, maybe the clerk could double-check the timing.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Sure. We'll never get through this if we don't get started. Once we're past two rounds of questions, I'll have a time for the members.

With that, and in no particular order, we've asked witnesses to speak for five minutes and then we'll go to questions. We have Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Canada Border Services Agency, Public Health Agency of Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Dr. Bogoch, if you have remarks, for five minutes, you're more than welcome to make them.

[Dr. Isaac Bogoch, Physician and Scientist, Toronto General Hospital and University of Toronto, As an Individual]

I would love to. Thank you so much. Good evening, everybody. My name is Isaac Bogoch. I'm an infectious diseases physician and I'm a scientist based out of the Toronto General Hospital and the University of Toronto. Thank you very much for inviting me to the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security.

Obviously the main issue here is to discuss the quarantine hotels, but clearly this is a symptom of a much larger issue, and that's how to protect Canadians from the external introduction of COVID-19 with sound border and travel measures.

Now, this is a rapidly changing environment. We need border policy that will adapt to growing immunity that we get from vaccine scale-up in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere.

The key here is that the policy today will hopefully look very different from the policy we'll have in the months ahead as we gain population-level immunity and as we have a better understanding of what the true protective effect is of these vaccines for, as an example, the emerging variants of concern that we've heard so much about.

The immediate issue, however, is obviously to discuss these quarantine hotels. It's clear that they are not without harm. We've heard about the disturbing reports of sexual assault. We've heard about logistical issues, costs and loopholes.

It's important to remember that the key goal here is to prevent the importation of COVID-19 and variants of concern that are more transmissible or have the potential to escape immunity. Essentially, it's to buy us time in Canada to vaccinate ourselves.

It's interesting that the Public Health Agency of Canada has instructed all Canadians to avoid all unnecessary international travel since March of 2020. It's been a year.

These most recent prohibitive measures really accomplished two related tasks. They basically dissuaded travel by adding cost and inconvenience, but they also created mechanisms to decrease the likelihood that imported cases of COVID-19 and the variants of concern would spread within Canada.

How helpful is this? How helpful are the quarantine hotels? Emerging data will answer this and address whether we truly are getting incremental benefit from them, and if so, how much.

Of course, this isn't a long-term strategy, so what are the better alternatives? There are ample ways to prevent infection from getting into Canada or a country in general and to ensure that people adhere to quarantine measures. In isolation, none of these is perfect, but bundled together they provide incremental safety.

The big categories are these.

Number one is travel bans. You either prevent people from leaving your country or from coming into your country. That is not an ideal long-term solution.

Number two is testing. We've seen here pre-travel testing and testing on arrival. Those are very effective and helpful.

Number three is home quarantine. You can add to this periodic check-ins by phone or in person, and of course, you can add technology to really ensure that people are staying at home and to track movement.

I'm not saying we should do this; I'm saying this is on the buffet table of options that are available to us.

Then, number four is hotel quarantine. We already know what the problems are with this. It's expensive, it's a tough environment to control, it's logistically challenging—but it's still an option.

There are a few other semi-related items that we should be considering. The measures have to be commensurate with the current and future threats.

The problem is that we don't fully appreciate the full impacts that the variants of concern have. To what extent do they evade immunity? How protective are our current vaccines approved in Canada against them?

We have emerging data suggesting that some of the vaccines, such as the Pfizer vaccine, may provide decent protection against all the major variants of concern. There still are many unanswered questions, however, and we will have more clarity in the weeks and months ahead.

We also should consider that fully vaccinated people pose far less of a threat. The vaccines aren't perfect, but they are really good. It's worthwhile to start the conversations about considering allowing fully vaccinated people to travel without warranty—perhaps if they have negative testing.

There is already behavioural guidance now for vaccinated people in the United States. For example, the CDC says that those who are fully vaccinated don't need to quarantine, if they are exposed to someone with COVID-19 and are asymptomatic. Other countries, such as Cyprus, recently announced that they are allowing fully vaccinated tourists in the near future.

With requiring proof of vaccination at the border there are obviously ethical challenges, but this is likely going to happen in many countries around the world, and even these obvious ethical and equity issues can be imperfectly ameliorated by providing vaccination free of charge at the border. We can also do such things as shorten quarantine periods to seven to 10 days and test at the tail end.

Lastly, I think it's important to recognize that close to 75% of travel across the land border is currently exempt from quarantine regulations, so it's a good idea to prioritize those essential travellers for vaccination.

In sum, it's important to adhere to the precautionary principle in the context of an unknown and potentially devastating threat from the variants of concern: either that they are more transmissible or that they escape immunity, or sometimes that they might even be more deadly.

We'll have a rapidly growing understanding of what threat these variants pose in the coming weeks and of how our vaccine program will fare. Let's look at the available data, which is growing; let's look at the available data from the quarantine hotels. Then we can make value judgements and see whether it's worth continuing this plan in the short term while we simultaneously look for an exit strategy that can heavily rely on testing and perhaps home quarantine, with additional tools and support for better follow-up.

We also have to plan for all of this to change with time as the Canadian and global population level immunity grows.

Thank you for your time.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you, Dr. Bogoch.

Now we will go to the Canada Border Services Agency.

[Denis Vinette, Vice-President, Travellers Branch, Canada Border Services Agency]

Thank you.

It's a pleasure for us to be here. We had been advised that based on the minister's statement at the opening, we wouldn't need to give an opening monologue, if you will, in terms of our participation today. But Mr. Christiansen and I are very pleased to be here to address any more questions that come our way as they pertain to the border.

I might add that it's been nearly a year. A year ago we established our CBSA border COVID task force, led by Mr. Christiansen, to begin to implement a series of measures that brings us to this day. It's been a series of sequences and steps that have brought a series of new controls at the border, each informed by direction from our colleagues at Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Therefore, we've worked diligently to ensure that our officers had the right direction, the right information and the right support to be able to make those day-to-day decisions that are required of them.

I'll leave it at that. We'll be very pleased to support the committee in its work today.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you for that.

Now we will go to the Public Health Agency of Canada and to Dr. Kochhar.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar, Associate Deputy Minister, Public Health Agency of Canada]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'll start.

Also, thank you to the honourable members.

I'd like to start by echoing the earlier sentiments that were expressed, that the travellers who are in quarantine should feel safe and secure at all times.

Today, I am here to speak to you about the border measures that are in place to protect Canadians from COVID-19, and its variants.

Although the Government of Canada recommends against Canadians travelling at this time, anyone who does travel should be aware of the requirements currently in place.

With limited exceptions, persons entering Canada must quarantine for 14 days, starting the day they arrive.

Travellers coming to Canada must submit their travel and contact information and a suitable quarantine plan via the ArriveCAN app before they board their flight or before they cross the Canadian border.

Before boarding a flight to Canada, a traveller must also provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test taken up to 72 hours prior to their flight departing. Alternatively, the traveller can provide proof of a positive test taken 14 to 90 days prior to arrival in Canada.

For travellers who are arriving by land and who are providing proof of a negative test result, the molecular test has to have been taken in the United States.

Travellers arriving in Canada by land or air, with limited exceptions, must also take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival. In addition, they will be required to take another test towards the end of their 14-day quarantine period.

Also, again with limited exceptions, travellers who arrive by air must pre-book and stay up to three nights in Government of Canada-authorized accommodations while they wait for the results on their arrival test.

The cost of the hotel accommodations is at the travellers' expense and includes associated costs for food, security, transportation, and infection prevention and control measures.

If the traveller receives a negative test result, they can continue to their place of quarantine to finish their quarantine period. If the traveller's result is positive, they will be transferred to a designated quarantine facility, or another suitable location, to complete their 14 days.

Government of Canada employees and also security personnel are stationed at the designated quarantine facilities to ensure that all entry and exit points are secure, controlled and monitored.

Travellers required to stay in one of these facilities are provided with information that outlines the details of the quarantine requirement, which includes a code of conduct and potential fines for non-compliant behaviour.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has recently enhanced its security presence at these quarantine facilities and will continue to make adjustments as needed to ensure the safety of anyone staying in these facilities.

We are increasing the training of staff who are working at the facilities, and have developed enhanced policies and procedures.

The Public Health Agency of Canada works with the RCMP and provincial and municipal law enforcement to verify compliance with quarantine, isolation and other obligations.

Also, officials provide travellers with information outlining what is required of them during the isolation or quarantine period. Officials then contact travellers throughout this period to remind them of the requirements.

We have also initiated compliance verification visits by third party security companies, which are now under way. If a traveller cannot be reached, or if it seems they are not complying, they are referred to local law enforcement. And there are penalties, Mr. Chair, ranging from up to six months in prison or up to $750,000.

As we continue to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will continue to evaluate the border measures we have in place to ensure they are effective and minimizing the introduction of new COVID-19 cases.

I would like to end by emphasizing that now is not the time to travel. The Government of Canada continues to advise against non-essential travel to and from Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Now, finally, on behalf of the RCMP, we have Chief Superintendent Rupa.

[Sorab Rupa, Chief Superintendent, National Criminal Operations, Contract and Indigenous Policing, Royal Canadian Mounted Police]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair and honourable members.

I would just like to make two points.

The RCMP remains in a high state of readiness to respond in the context of the ongoing pandemic. RCMP personnel are continuing their work to uphold public safety and ensure Canadians continue to receive dedicated and professional policing services based on national, provincial, municipal and indigenous priorities.

The RCMP is working in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and other law enforcement partners to ensure compliance with Quarantine Act requirements for border and self-isolation measures.

The RCMP is also working closely to support the safety and security of the vaccine rollout.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

With that, we'll commence the six-minute round.

Madam Stubbs.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Thanks, Chair.

This is for Ms. Evans at the Public Health Agency.

Last month you were asked for the data and evidence that was used to develop the hotel quarantine rules. Do you have that now?

[Cindy Evans, Vice-President, Emergency Management, Public Health Agency of Canada]

I believe that undertakings from the previous meeting have been handled by my department. We would be pleased to follow up.

Thank you.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

You'll provide that as soon as you can to our committee, as well.

Has the health minister or the public safety minister ever asked for that data and evidence?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, the information that is being produced as a result of continuous assessment continues to be put together. There are very limited information pieces available right now. As the travellers come in, we are gathering that information as we go.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

For Canadians, what we're trying to get to the bottom of is whether would it be safe to say that there is no complete data or evidence that was in place that led to the policy decision for the quarantine facility rules.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

Mr. Chair, as we actually started to look at the two things—the variants of concern and any chance of importation of COVID-19 from the countries showing high transmissibility and a higher rate of infectivity—this was the right step to take in terms of making sure we do not introduce any of those variants that could be either highly transmissible or could have a potential of causing a higher death rate.

Based on those things, we are very much in that zone where we have to take some protective measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians. One of the aspects that triggered this was the ability for us to curtail any of the importation of COVID-19 variants.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I am hopeful that whatever data and evidence was gathered in order to make the decision to establish the hotel quarantine rule will be provided to our committee.

Prior to recent reports, did anyone in PHAC know that women were told to not lock their doors and to not tell anyone where they were in the facilities? Was PHAC aware before the public reports?

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

PHAC has actually worked with the Hotel Association of Canada, which provides the—

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

I'm not talking about the most recent three-day quarantine. I'm talking about the alleged assaults that occurred in the federally mandated facilities not run by the hotels. I'm talking about these instances that occurred where the only role of the hotel was to provide the property. That is why I asked if anyone in PHAC knew about these instances before the public reports.

[Dr. Harpreet S. Kochhar]

That's what I'm trying to explain, Mr. Chair, that, as such, the hotels have their protocol, and the security and safety of the clientele who is in there are the responsibility of the hotel. They have door locks, and they have the right kind of monitoring mechanism also. That's what we rely on in terms of making sure that the clients will be taken care of.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

To the RCMP, were enhanced RCMP clearance checks used to vet and certify private security firms and screening officers prior to their access to quarantine facilities or to homes of Canadians complying with federal quarantine requirements?

[Sorab Rupa]

Mr. Chair, that was not asked of us. We were not involved in anything to do with the hiring of the private security firms to do any of those compliance checks or the work at the government-approved accommodations or the DQFs.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Is it safe to conclude too, then, that the RCMP wasn't consulted or involved with the planning or the establishment of the quarantine screening officer program?

[Sorab Rupa]

Mr. Chair, that is correct. The RCMP was not involved in that part of the plan.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

What about security standards and risk assessments of the selected quarantine facilities? Was the RCMP consulted or involved with any of that?