When Canada instituted tough travel restrictions aimed at combating COVID-19 last month, there were grumbles from many, resistance from others and more than a few complaints about the cost of coming to Canada.
Whether arriving by air, sea or land, anybody entering Canada–including returning Canadians–were mandated to stay in a federally approved hotel for the first three nights of a 14-day quarantine–at their own expense–as they awaited the results of a COVID-19 test they would be required to take at their point of entry.
The mandate got off to a bumpy start as some travellers reported that they couldn’t get through on the government phone line to book their hotel, or they couldn’t figure out if they were exempt from the rules. (Essential workers such as truckers and emergency service providers were, in fact, exempt, as were some cross border communities.)
An employee assists travellers arriving at a government-authorized COVID-19 quarantine hotel in Richmond, B.C. on Sunday, February 28, 2021. Travellers arriving in Canada are required to reserve a government-authorized hotel for three nights and stay at the hotel while awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test done upon arrival in the country. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
And, there was resistance by some–including snowbirds who simply decided to stay in Florida, and others who walked away from the whole thing, ignoring directives in force at airports.
She now faces a maximum $750,000 fine or six months in jail.
There has also been a much darker side that prompted some Conservative MPs to ask the federal government to suspend the mandatory hotel quarantine policy in the wake of two reports of sexual violence.
Now, a constitutional rights advocacy group is heading down a different path.
The Canadian Press’s John Chidley-Hill reports that the Canadian Constitution Foundation is mounting a legal challenge to the quarantine hotel policy, arguing it infringes on Canadians’ fundamental rights.
A sign reminds arriving passengers to quarantine against COVID-19 at Trudeau Airport in Montreal, Friday, Feb. 19, 2021. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)
“The biggest issue is that we have a fundamental right to enter Canada and this is a limit on that right and it’s not a justified limit,” Christine Van Geyn, litigation director for the CCF, told CP.
“There are so many alternatives that would be less infringing on rights.”
According to Chidley-Hill, the CCF argues in its legal application that hotel quarantine requirements are “overbroad, arbitrary and grossly disproportionate.”
The applicants, Chidley-Hill reports, are seeking an injunction to suspend the order, but are also asking to have the law struck down for infringing upon the constitutional rights of liberty, freedom from unreasonable detention, and the right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment.
The CCF is also seeking damages of $10,000.
Van Geyn said the request for nominal damages is to cover the costs of the five individual applicants for their hotel stays at approximately $2,000 per person.
“The focus is not on the money, the focus is on the ability for them to exercise their fundamental rights,” she said.
A spokesperson for Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada told CP that they were aware of the legal action and that the federal government intended to respond to the application.
With files from The Canadian Press, CBC News
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