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Canadians can’t travel to Canada without a smartphone

12 points by cyberlurker ↗ HN
So I’ve learned today that Canadians need a smartphone, probably only iPhone or Android, to travel back to Canada. They have this new app, ArriveCan, that they require you to fill out some basic information that probably would be fine to fill out with paper or something else. But that option simply does not exist.

For most of our crowd, this is not an issue. But imagine those that are older. Those that don’t want to use android or iOS. Or in the case of a friend, those who have low battery and basically no data.

I think it’s ridiculous.

(for the record: I am strongly pro-vaccine and pretty in favor of reasonable restrictions)

Edit: Looks like I’m wrong about the app. That’s good, sorry about that. You can go to the website before arriving at the airport and print it off according to comments below.

13 comments

[ 5.9 ms ] story [ 46.2 ms ] thread
donarb
ArrivCan has a website that people can use.

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/diseases/cor...

humanistbot
And that site directly contradicts the OP's claim:

"Canadian citizens, permanent residents or persons registered under the Indian Act and foreign nationals eligible to enter Canada under another entry exemption (such as foreign work, study, compassionate grounds) will not be denied boarding or entry, but you:

won't be eligible for the fully vaccinated traveller exemption

may face additional delays at the border for public health questioning

may be subject to fines or enforcement action"

totony
>may be subject to fines or enforcement action

What does this mean? What's "enforcement action?"

klyrs
Broadly speaking, it's when a fine is levied, or the cops show up to your door, or property is impounded, etc. Basically, when the government does an action to enforce a law that's an enforcement action.
kinghuang
This is false. You can fill in the required information online without a mobile app, and print out the ArriveCAN receipt or write down the 6 character code. There's no need to use a smartphone.
c4m
Correct. I am a Canadian who recently traveled to Canada. I filled AriveCAN out at home, printed it out, and brought the printed receipt to the border.
smt88
As comments say, OP is mistaken. I think you should delete and move on.
cyberlurker
Looks like I’m wrong about the app. That’s good, sorry about that. You can go to the website before arriving at the airport and print it off according to comments below.

But anecdotal, many people seem to be surprised by the app at the airport.

hourislate
You don't need a phone but you need some physical proof (print out) that you tested negative and have physical proof you were vaccinated. The Canadian Border Services will still treat you like shit regardless.

The real stupidity of it all is if you're driving from somewhere far like Florida you have to leave before you get any results or you won't make the border in time (72 hours). Getting the test results can take 24-48 hours so that leaves you an insane drive if you wait to get the results. Not well thought out.

It's all stupid, People are ushering in a prison world, who really gives a fuck if your vaccinated or not (I'm vaccinated). I traveled into the Soviet Union in the late 70's, it was easier then to cross into Eastern Europe than it is to cross the Canadian/USA border today. Complete clown world.

Most Canadians are fucked anyway since the US doesn't recognize Astra and those folks can't travel to the US. Then you have the folks who are vaccinated with both Pfizer and Moderna and that is not recognized either.

michael_vo
I agree it's ridiculous. For those who say you can print it out, about half the people who arrived in line at the airport in Canada had no clue we needed to fill it out until we got there. But this is actually common in the covid travel days.

Like in Italy we had to fill out about 100 input fields from shitty dropdowns, and it wasn't basic personal information (i.e. they wanted your parent's names and birthdates). By shitty dropdowns an example is birthdate required me to click year by year from 2021. It took about 15 minutes to fill out on mobile. I really felt bad for the older people filling it out on their mobile devices.

The amount of data that is being collected is pretty insane when you travel nowadays.

version_five
If you dont live in Canada, don't come here. We're just a small notch above Australia in terms of western countries that went full authoritarian with covid as the excuse.
oldskewlcool
Mandatory visitation of a government website still enables the opportunity to fingerprint, data match and warrantless wiretap (ie. FISA).

How long until the only supported browser is Chrome latest and all the anti-privacy features it mandates?

Will NITs be served to all those with a 'high risk' profile?

The border has, after all, repeatedly been shown to be a place in which all rights, citizen or not, are 'suspended'.

Covid has shown that democracy in the western world is exceptionally weak.

Technology enabled authoritarianism is the overwhelming preference of those elected to 'represent the people'.

Let's be honest - if you aren't that intelligent / experienced or hard working it's just easier to govern this way.

Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand) - No life experience whatsoever other than politics - namely activist socialist youth organizations.

Justin Trudeau (Canada) - No life experience whatsoever other than high school drama teacher and scion of a Canadian political dynasty.

Joe Biden (USA) - No life experience outside of politics. Publicly exhibits signs of dementia / tiredness / laziness of thought.

In all if the above cases (3/5 of the '5 eyes' countries' FWIW) the elected leaders are so far below the level of intellect and experience necessary to navigate something as intricate as a pandemic that it is little wonder they just attempt to short circuit democracy / oversight / discourse.

Lockdowns. Mask Mandates. Covid Zero. Papers Please. Apps to cross the border.

The rate at which 'rights' in modern democracies were suspended, in favor of policies which only have precedent in authoritarian states such as China, is breath taking.

This Canadian border story is just another example that democracy is not nearly as robust or populous-centric as it may seem.

proc0
> For most of our crowd, this is not an issue.

I'm getting rid of my phone. I've been leaving it at home for a few months now. I have an old school GPS in my car, but don't need it anyway. It feels nice to exercise my spatial senses more now. I have also lowered the rate of interaction with everyone I know, and just wait until I get home, and mostly use my PC to chat and talk with people. Almost everything can wait.

Not sure I would recommend it, but it's more than possible, very refreshing, and I feel like a hipster again.