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GRAND FORKS — The Canadian government is expected to announce that travelers entering the country soon will no longer be required to take a pre-arrival COVID-19 test, Canadian news organizations reported on Wednesday, March, 16.
The testing requirements will end by the end of the March, said CBC News, citing sources with knowledge of the matter. Global News reported the announcement could be made as soon as Thursday.
At present, vaccinated travelers entering Canada are required to show proof of a negative antigen test taken within a day of crossing the border, or a negative molecular test taken within 72 hours of crossing the border. Prior to Feb. 28, travelers could only show proof of a negative molecular test.
Joe Henry, executive director of Lake of the Woods Tourism, called the move a “step in the right direction” that will make travel easier for people visiting the Northwest Angle.
“It’s welcome news for sure,” he said. “The way we’ve kind of looked at it is, for every hurdle there is for people to travel up to the Northwest Angle, you’re going to get fewer and fewer travelers. And every hurdle you take away, the number of travelers that will consider driving up will certainly go up. We think this is definitely a hurdle that's being taken away, which is going to help our area.”
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While the hurdle of testing will be taken away for travelers, he explained that requiring vaccinations at all is still a hurdle. He does not expect tourism to bounce back to pre-pandemic numbers as long as that requirement is still in place.
Travelers are currently required to upload test results, proof of vaccination, and quarantine plans to ArriveCAN, a website and mobile app designed to reduce wait times at ports of entry. CTV News is reporting that travelers will still be required to use ArriveCan.
The Canadian government will continue random arrival testing, reported CBC News.
