The Trudeau government is going to force all travellers from outside the country to isolate themselves. According to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, there will be a few exceptions if they are deemed to be essential by the federal government.
“The health minister will be using powers she has under the Quarantine Act beginning at midnight tonight to impose a mandatory 14 period of isolation on all people coming into Canada from outside Canada,” says Freeland.
Health Minister Patty Hajdu told the Senate today that “too many people, especially if they are coming from countries that have minimized the issue of this virus, and we know many people are coming from winter homes that may have heard different kinds of news about the severity of this illness and that’s causing them to not take it seriously.”
“As of tonight, it will be mandatory for travellers returning home to isolate for 14 days under the Quarantine Act, also not to isolate in the same home where there is a vulnerable individual and not to take public transit to get to that place,” Hajdu added.
The Health Minister went on to say “the Public Health Agency of Canada will be supporting people that are under the circumstance of not having a place to stay and or not having transportation that’s private. We need Canadians to take this seriously who are returning to this country, even if they are asymptomatic when they get off the plane.”
In other words, if someone with COVID-19 symptoms flew home and landed in Toronto from another country they would not be able to fly to Thunder Bay to begin self-isolation if they were showing any symptoms. There is no immediate word on how the government will be enforcing the measure.
