Making Sense of the Canadian 14-Day Quarantine Requirement
Recently, a number of members have contacted HAC to help them interpret and apply the Canadian Quarantine Requirements for company employees having traveled to the USA, and returning to Canada – particularly to see if any of these individuals qualify for an exemption to the quarantine requirement. The exemptions apply to business activities under three different circumstances – they include:
- For a “crew member” returning to Canada;
- For a person returning to Canada to provide an “essential service”;
- And here’s the really interesting one – for a person “… who enters Canada after carrying out an everyday function that, due to geographical constraints, must involve entering the United States.”
It is clear that:
- the exemption extends to include workers that provide transportation services to businesses and individuals, including by air …
- Employees who repair and maintain vehicles, aircraft, rail equipment, marine vessels, and the equipment and infrastructure that enables operations that encompass movement of cargo and passengers
- Air transportation employees, including pilots, flight attendants and flight crew, air traffic controllers, ramp personnel, aviation security, and aviation management
- There is no “partial self-isolation” requirement, where the crew member must self-isolate except when traveling to and from their workplace
- If any person subject to one of the exemptions develops symptoms or comes in to contact with anyone subject to self-isolation, then they must self-isolate for 14-days
Members should take note that nothing in the CBSA document below should be interpreted to provide relief from foreign requirements, including the self-isolation requirements of a foreign country or individual US State. That is, the exemption only provides relief from the 14-day Canadian self-isolation requirements for persons entering Canada.
Here are some examples that have been raised with HAC:
- The CEO or Board members of a Canadian Air Operator is/are called upon to attend a Board meeting in the USA and then return to Canada;
- Employees or management personnel of a Canadian Overhaul shop are required to travel to the USA to meet with American suppliers;
- Flight or maintenance crews carrying out work in the United States return to Canada following a work-related activity in the USA involving the provision of essential or non-essential services;
- Employees or management personnel are required to travel to the United States to carry out an “everyday function” related to a business located in the USA – this could include work-related meetings with suppliers.