Fort Erie echoes Niagara Falls request: Dump ArriveCAN at border

Both Niagara Falls and Fort Erie are telling the federal government to dump the mandatory use of the ArriveCAN application.

Actually, Fort Erie is taking it a step further by asking that “Canada immediately return all travel requirements and land ports of entry to pre-pandemic operation, which includes but is not necessarily limited to the removal of all COVID-related public health mandates and measures, returning to pre-pandemic staffing levels, as well as no longer requiring compulsory usage of the ArriveCAN application for entry to Canada at the land border.”

Basically, the town is saying let’s get back to 2019 levels of border security.

It started early in May when the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority sent the City of Niagara Falls a letter saying, Even after the Covid testing requirements to enter Canada were lifted on April 1, 2022, auto traffic for the month of April was down 52% at the bridges of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and 43% at the Peace Bridge, compared to pre-pandemic April 2019.”

“This has had a devastating impact on our toll revenues, the tourism industry and other border dependent businesses.”

They singled out the often-confusing ArriveCAN application as the biggest reason, saying the people struggle with using the app, particularly seniors.

Within a week, Niagara Falls draft a response letter for the Government of Canada, asking them to continue to market the ArriveCAN application as an “optional” tool when crossing the border and that “it no longer be a mandatory requirement.”