Let's talk about Canada's quarantine exemption rules. With all the attention on banning flights from India (and not from everywhere else), we are ignoring a very important problem -- our quarantine rules are full of exemptions. Here they are:

1. Medical exemptions: if you come to Canada for a medical treatment that happens within 36 hours of your arrival, you can be exempt. (The way this is written sounds like you have to be supervised by a doctor for 14 days, but it also could only be for people who are COVID+)

2. Student in a health field - you are exempt if you come to Canada if you are coming to Canada as part of your studies. You are not allowed to care for someone 65+ within 14 days of arriving (extremely tight restriction...)

3. Medical services, transport or deliveries -- this includes repair people. If you have any work to do in Canada that's related to medical services, the transportation of medical devices or deliveries, as long as you do not work with someone 65+ w/in 14 days of arrival, exempt.

4. Health care practitioners - you need to have proof of employment, but you can be exempt (as long as, again, you do not work with people 65+ within 14 days -- this seems like a very big loophole, as these workers are even more exposed to COVID normally)

5. Medical treatments - Canadians and their accompaniment are exempt if they are leaving Canada to seek medical services.

6. Work exemptions:

"trade or transportation sector who are impt for the movement of goods or people: truck drivers and crew members on any aircraft, shipping vessel or train, and that cross the border while performing their duties or for the purpose of performing their duties"

7. "Technicians or specialists specified by a gov't, manufacturer, or company, who enter Canada as required for the purpose of maintaining, repairing, installing or inspecting equipment necessary to support critical infrastructure" the definition of critical infrastructure is...

Techs or specialists in "Energy and Utilities, Information and Communication Technologies, Finance, Health, Food, Water, Transportation, Safety, Government and Manufacturing"

These workers *must* do their work w/in 14 days of arriving...

This is quite the hole in policy. For sure COVID has spread as a result of this regulation. You can imagine how easy it would be for corporations to use this language to justify work travel. Anyway .. .next.

8. Emergency workers like peace officers, firefighters etc. who came from abroad and who are required to work within 14 days of arriving in Canada. Again, this is also a very clear hole in our policy, as someone arriving from another country to instantly work could be dangerous.

9. "Commercial conveyance operators repatriating human remains into Canada"

.. ok

10. Any fish-related people: "any person supporting commercial or research open water aquaculture-related activities, who enter Canada for the purpose of carrying out aquaculture-related activities" (followed by a list of examples)

11. Officials of the Government of Canada or a foreign government who are involved in deportation, extradition etc.

(of course -- gotta keep criminalizing people!)

12. "Officials of the Govt of Canada, a provincial or a foreign government, including law enforcement, border enforcement, and immigration enforcement officers, who enter Canada for the purposes of law, border or immigration enforcement, or national security activities" etc...

... these officials must do their duty within 14 days of arriving in Canada.

Knowing what we know about law enforcement's propensity to catch COVID, this also seems like a very easy hole for COVID to walk through.

13. "Members of a crew for any conveyance" if they left canada for training and are expected to be back at work with 14 days (which begs the question - why would they be expected to be at work so quickly?)

14. Crew, as defined by aviation regulations and immigration regulations.

15. Members of the armed forces, or other foreign forces, who come to Canada to perform duties within 14 days of arriving (?????????)

16. crew from vessels, as long as they stay on the vessel.

17. Regular border crossers who cross for work (they are not allowed to do care with people 65+ within 14 days of quarantine)

18. People who must cross the border to perform day-to-day activities due to the geographic location of their community in relation to the border (the example is Akwesasne, which is not a great one because the border crosses Akwesasne not the other way around)

19. Folks who live at the Northwest Angle (very near where I was born) and a few other regions where they must enter Canada to get the necessaries of life.

20. Residents of Campobello Island, New Brunswick or Stewart, British Columbia.

21. Students who are moving into residence.

22. A person driving into Canada to drop off or pick up a student

23. Canadians who attend school in the US, as long as they don't care for people over 65 (why in the world would they be exempted from quarantine???)

24. Canadians who drive to the US to pick up a student (watch out @sandela, maybe I'll come by!)

25. Children or drivers of children are in cross-border custody agreements.

26. A person specially invited by Minister of Health to assist in COVID-19 response.

27. A person who (a list of gov't departments) determine is a person of National Interest.

28. People who entered by car and who did not seek legal entry to the US

29. Someone who the Ministry of Health has identified is assisting in provincial or territorial health care projects

30. Officially designated "high performance athletes" or someone who works with HPAs

Wondering why our quarantine laws don't seem to be working? Because they are as porous as swiss cheese. And yet, journalists are all focused on India.

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