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6/21/21 Update: As of July 5, 2021 at 11:59pm, Canada will lift international travel restrictions for fully vaccinated Canadians, permanent residents, and foreign nationals who are already permitted to enter Canada (for example immediate family members, those authorized to visit for compassionate reasons such as an end of life visit, certain athletes, etc.) Note that this does NOT permit fully vaccinated Americans to visit for tourism purposes. The Canadian-U.S. border is closed until at least July 21, 2021 for tourism purposes.
Canada Expects to Keep Its Border with the U.S. Closed Through at Least Early July 2021, according to a senior Canadian official quoted by Politico. Americans who aren't Canadian citizens or permanent residents have, with few exceptions, been unable to travel to Canada since March 2020, when the U.S.-Canadian land border closed to non-essential travel.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated that at least 75 percent of Canadians should have received a first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and at least 20 percent should be fully vaccinated before border restrictions are relaxed. Canada passed the U.S. in administering COVID-19 vaccine first doses as of May 20, and Canada has reported that over 68 percent of Canadian adults have received a first dose; for the overall population, Canada has administered a first dose to over 63 percent of its population, vs. just over 51 percent for the U.S. Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam has noted that Canada is on track to reach the 75-20 target by the first week of July 2021.
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Canada has some of the strictest COVID-19 entry restrictions; since February 22, 2021, all air passenger arrivals have had to pay for a 3-night airport hotel quarantine, testing negative before completing the remainder of their required 14 day self-quarantine at home. This system is only starting to loosen for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are fully vaccinated, with a recent announcement that starting the first week of July (this is subject to change and depends on vaccinations and infections), these fully vaccinated returning travelers will be able to skip the airport hotel quarantine and isolate at home until they test negative COVID-19, which will then exempt them from the rest of the 14-day quarantine. Few Canadians will benefit much initially, since only ~7% of the population has been fully vaccinated. That's because Canada, similar to the UK, has focused on administering first doses, maximizing the share of the population that is partially protected.
The U.S. and Canada have been renewing their bilateral month-to-month border closing agreement, with the next one due to expire June 21, 2021. Earlier, some Canadian mayors said that Canada's Public Safety Minister Bill Blair had signaled that the land border could be opened as early as June 22. The most recent news pushes the timeline back by over 1 week, and possibly longer.
For our non-Canadian readers: where in Canada would you like to visit once border restrictions are loosened?
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Source: Politico
The border reopening is welcome news, albeit a bit late for my husband’s hope to see his older sister before she passed away. Going to Canada right now is really difficult, even for compassionate reasons (with only slight loosening of quarantine requirements). That said, exploring the way of life in places like Saskatoon and Regina in Saskatchewan is high on my list of places to see, as we have traveled coast to coast and visited Canada’s big cities.
Peggy, very sorry to hear of your husband’s sister passing; really wish he could have seen her. Canadian friends of ours have similarly found it difficult to go up to visit and help elderly relatives given the quarantine. Look forward to increased vaccination rates and lower disease paving the way for reopening. Have heard great things about Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan–hope you’re able to visit the province on your next trip to Canada!
We would love to go back to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, but I think this summer is lost for U.S. tourists wanting to visit Canada without needing to quarantine. I doubt Canada will loosen up restrictions to U.S. travelers who are vaccinated in time for summer. If they do it, it may be September, but we have kids so they’re back in school by then. We will likely have to wait until next summer!
Things could certainly change, but fingers crossed Canada reopens to fully vaccinated U.S. visitors by mid-late summer 2021.