Two week quarantine imposed on Ontario woman after day trip to Buffalo
A Toronto-area woman has been forced to isolate for 14 days after returning from a day trip to the United States and forgetting to fill out her ArriveCAN app.
Laurie Fonseca spent just seven hours shopping across the border in Buffalo, New York, but when the fully vaccinated Mississauga woman and her friend were returning to Canada at the Rainbow Bridge crossing, they were told to quarantine for two weeks due to not pre-registering on the ArriveCAN app.
“It was like being kicked in the gut,” Fonseca told CTV News Toronto on Thursday. “I'm basically bound in my house for 14 days and I'm a Canadian citizen, fully vaccinated — this makes absolutely no sense to me.”
The Canada Border Services said in a release issued Tuesday that the ArriveCAN app “remains mandatory for everyone, regardless if travellers enter by land/air/marine or how long they were away from Canada.”
Canadian citizens, permanent residents and persons registered under the Indian Act will not be denied entry if they do not submit their information in the ArriveCan app, but will not be eligible for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption, may face additional delays at the border for public health questioning and may be subject to fines or enforcement action.
Fonseca says she asked the CBSA officer whether she could park her car and fill out the registration then but was denied.
Fonseca’s travelling companion will miss an important family event due to the imposed quarantine, she says.
“She's got a flight on Dec. 14th at 9 p.m. to go back home to England for her brother's 60th birthday,” Fonseca said. “The border guard said, ‘Well she won't be going because quarantine ends at 11:59 p.m.’”
Canada Border Services declined to speak on the specifics of this case, but highlighted that it's a must to have the ArriveCAN app filled out and to do your homework before travelling across the border.
With files from CTV News Toronto's Austin Delaney.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.