Temporary Service Changes at select POEs

Date: August 6, 2020 
Classification: Unclassified
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: TB/CBSA

Issue: Update on temporary service changes at select ports of entry (POEs).

Proposed Response:

• To support recent efforts made to contain the spread of
  COVID-19, on April 15, 2020, and May 12, 2020, the CBSA took steps to reduce temporarily service hours at some land ports of entry and to suspend temporarily service at several small air and marine reporting sites.

• Further to this, I have authorized the temporary reduction of service hours at additional land, air, and marine ports of entry (POE) in addition to deferring seasonal opening hours at select ports of entry.

• To preserve its workforce capacity as a result of COVID-19, the CBSA has reduced hours of operation at 12 additional land POEs and eight air POEs. The Agency has also deferred the seasonal opening of one marine POE and deferred implementing seasonal hours at one land POE. These changes took effect on July 3, 2020.

• In order to align with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s decision to reduce hours of service, the CBSA has reduced the hours of operation at 2 additional land POEs and further reduced the hours of service at one previously-announced land POE. These changes took effect on July 23, 2020.

• In total, the CBSA has:
• temporarily reduced the hours of service at 41 low-traffic POEs and 8 air POEs;
• temporarily suspended service at 126 small airports and 342 small vessel reporting sites;
• delayed the seasonal opening of three land POEs and one small air/marine reporting site; and
• deferred implementing seasonal hours at one land POE.

• These changes remain in effect until further notice.

• To determine which POEs would be suitable for temporary service changes, the CBSA undertook analysis and consultation with the US. Key criteria included an assessment of potential impacts on:
• critical infrastructure support;
• health, safety, and security;
• Indigenous communities; and
• essential travel and commercial processing.

• POE service changes are a regular outcome of the CBSA’s ongoing assessment of its operations.

If pressed:

• Economic supply chains and trade will remain open and the CBSA continues to work to ensure that access to goods and services remains uninterrupted. As such, these changes should not affect commercial traffic.

• The CBSA remains committed to ensuring that Indigenous peoples continue to be able to move within and between their communities, and are able to provide and access essential goods and services.

• The CBSA will continue to work with stakeholders impacted by these temporary reductions in service to ensure that the entry of essential goods and services to nearby communities is mitigated through alternative clearance procedures.

Background:

The Canada-US border has seen a number of enhanced border measures at land Ports of Entry (POEs) take effect since March 21, 2020. A reduction in hours of service at 27 Canadian POEs also came into effect at 11:59 p.m. ET on April 15, 2020. On May 12, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. ET, the CBSA temporarily suspended service at 476 small air and marine reporting locations. As of July 3, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. ET, the CBSA has temporarily reduced service hours at 12 land and 8 air ports of entry along with deferring the seasonal opening of one marine port of entry and postposing the implementation of seasonal hours at one land port of entry. On July 23, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. ET, following the US CBP decision to reduce hours of service, the CBSA temporarily reduced service hours at 2 land ports of entry, and further reduced the hours of service at 1 previously-announced land POE. These measures will remain in effect until further notice and are in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In making these temporary service reductions, the following considerations were taken into account:

Workforce effectiveness

This measure allows the CBSA to preserve capacity should the front line be significantly reduced as a result of COVID-19, as well as, allow for the reallocation of its front-line workforce to higher-traffic sites.

Health and safety

Temporarily reducing hours of operation or suspending service at select POEs also helps to limit the possible transmission points of COVID-19 for inbound travellers and goods. This will also allow the CBSA to focus resources on the screening and assessment of potentially symptomatic travellers and support the Public Health Agency of Canada in enforcing the quarantine and self-isolation requirements. It is also in alignment with the Government’s current objective to have all inbound travellers assessed for symptoms of COVID-19.

Other considerations

These changes will not affect Canada’s supply flow during this pandemic.

Contacts:
Approved by: Denis Vinette, Vice-President, Travellers Branch, [Redacted]

Date modified:

2020-11-27