Public Safety Committee on March 10th, 2021

[Denis Vinette]

Thank you for your question.

Mr. Chair, right from the start of the pandemic, and even before that, we directed our attention to supporting our front-line officers. That began in January 2020, when we started to look at what was happening in China at that time, which then became the great pandemic.

We worked with Health Canada to make sure we had all the necessary occupational health and safety guidelines, protocols and equipment because, as officers who enforce the Quarantine Act, we are examining people and their health at all times. We remember Ebola and H1N1. It was a matter of reviewing what we had, being informed by up-to-date scientific data, and putting in place things like sanitation and masks, and then putting up Plexiglass panels, social distancing, and so on.

So that's always a very important aspect, and we made sure that we worked with our union and the agency's health and safety committee, so we were able to work well together and ensure the health of our officers.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

Thank you.

My next question is for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

There have been complaints about how people returning from travel have been treated. The Public Health Agency is certainly conducting checks in their facilities.

What is the process? What do you look for in these checks? What do you do with the information you collect?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Thank you for the question.

Yes, we do follow-up checks, because the hotels have been selected according to specific criteria.

Before the hotels are selected, we do site visits. Once the hotel is selected and posted on our site, we follow up to make sure that the hotel continues to meet the criteria, that they continue to do what they committed to when they submitted their application.

We want to make sure that the hotel continues to meet the requirements. This allows us to determine whether the hotel will remain on the list or be removed.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Ms. Michaud, you have for two and a half minutes.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Diogo, I would like to follow up on what you said earlier. You said that when travellers arrive at an airport and refuse to undergo the mandatory hotel quarantine, they are subject to a $3,000 fine under the Quarantine Act.

However, in a February 25 article in the Huffington Post, the Public Health Agency was quoted as saying that, if people did not follow instructions, they could be fined up to $750. The fine given at the time by Peel Regional Police was $880.

Could you confirm whether it was $3,000 or $750?

Why was it $880 in this case?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Thank you for the question.

I can tell you that there have been various cases since the new measures were put in place. The $875 you're talking about is indeed an amount that applies to a certain section of the act. Unfortunately, I don't have the various sections of the act in front of me. In one particular case, we know that a mistake was made in the amount of the fine imposed. However, with respect to the order in council, the fine is $3,000.

I must also say that our officers on the ground have to exercise judgment on a case-by-case basis to fully understand the situation before imposing a fine.

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

Thank you.

Journalists reported that, as of yesterday, some 11,440 hotel rooms had been booked since the mandatory hotel quarantine came into effect.

Do we have any statistics on the number of travellers who have arrived in Canada by air since the quarantine came into effect?

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Very briefly, please.

[Brigitte Diogo]

Thank you.

According to our data, as of 8 March, 12,971 reservations had been made for 17,004 travellers. For some bookings, more than one person occupied the room.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Mr. Harris, you have two and a half minutes.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

Thank you.

I wonder if Mr. Christiansen could answer some questions for me.

I'm concerned about the situation of how a person, once it's determined they need to be quarantined, actually get to the hotel, to their room. Is that done by the Canada Border Services Agency, or are they passed over to another quarantine officer? How is that enforced? What measures are there to make sure that they do proceed to the quarantine and not leave the airport on their own?

[Brigitte Diogo]

Mr. Chair, I will take that question. It's a question for the Public Health Agency of Canada.

Part of the criteria the hotels were required to meet is to make arrangements for transportation. When travellers arrive, the Public Health Agency of Canada has officers on the ground to direct travellers. We also require hotels to provide information to us on check-ins and checkouts. Finally, as part of the requirement to enter Canada, travellers are to provide the quarantine plan through the ArriveCAN app or through a web-based process.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

We understand that, but I'm wondering how many people have not made it to the hotel. How many people have either left the airport on their own or somehow been diverted before they ever got to the hotel where they were supposed to stay? You must have numbers on that.

[Brigitte Diogo]

As has been mentioned previously, the vast majority of travellers have been in compliance with the requirement.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

We understand it's the vast majority, but you said you know that there were 1,000 hotel rooms that were used and that there were 1,704 travellers involved.

I'm asking you another question, which is this: How many people had been fined for not ending up in the quarantine hotel they were assigned to?

[Brigitte Diogo]

We can provide that information to the committee. We have provided fines to travellers who have refused to go to the hotel once they have landed in those four cities. We can provide that information.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

[Jack Harris, NDP, St. John's East, NL]

I would ask you to supply that information to the committee, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Yes, that's an undertaking on the part of the Public Health Agency.

With that, we turn to Mr. Van Popta for five minutes, please.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you to all the witnesses for joining us this evening and for sharing your knowledge with us.

We heard in earlier testimony this evening that Canadians have generally been accepting of quarantine restrictions because we all know that we need to keep ourselves and our fellow citizens healthy. I'm not surprised, of course we're all law-abiding citizens. From my knowledge and experience in dealing with many constituents in my riding, I would agree that people generally thought that the at-home restrictions were perfectly reasonable.

My question would be to somebody from CBSA, I think probably, or maybe the RCMP, and it's whether you agree that the home quarantining has been generally accepted and successful. How many lawbreakers did you catch?

Mr. Vinette.

[Denis Vinette]

Mr. Chair, the CBSA's role as it pertains to ensuring that there's compliance with the OICs and regulations is first and foremost to receive all arriving travellers, whether it be by air or land, conduct the questioning and ensure they have met all of the obligations bestowed upon the entry as directed by the OICs. We then ensure that anyone who is not fully compliant is referred over to the Public Health Agency, either to someone on the ground then and there, or through their national call support centre. We have 117 land ports of entry at which anybody may arrive.

Prior to the most recent rules, we would direct people to quarantine for the 14 days. We capture everyone's information, where they will be quarantining and how to contact them, and that's done in a digital fashion and transmitted over to the Public Health Agency so that they can work with the police partners and themselves to ensure that people are being compliant.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Has there been general compliance from your experience?

[Denis Vinette]

I would have to turn to my colleague, Madame Diogo, but I have no information to offer on that question.

[Brigitte Diogo]

Thank you.

Yes, Mr. Chair, we have a very high compliance rate on the quarantine requirements.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley—Aldergrove, BC]

Good. Thank you.

In comparing ourselves to other countries, in particular the United States, our next-door neighbours, our COVID control, if I could call it that, experience is much better, largely on account of the at-home quarantining.

Like many Canadians, I'm left wondering what is added with the new mandatory hotel quarantine rules. It's a new requirement that does not have the broad acceptance, obviously, that the at-home quarantining has had.

We've all heard many stories of people trying to skirt the rules, or thinking that the rules are unfair, or coming to their hotel only to find that their hotel room isn't ready and having to be left in a waiting room with many other travellers. One of my constituents called me and said they would have felt much safer at home, that would have been a much more successful and safe quarantine.

What are your opinions on that?

Ms. Diogo.