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Canada extends COVID border restrictions to Sept. 30

Unvaccinated truck drivers are still being denied entry into Canada

Truckers made their way through to Ottawa, Canada, in January to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Canada’s vaccine mandate for border-crossing truck drivers will remain in place until at least Sept. 30, restricting unvaccinated foreign nationals from entering the country.

Americans crossing the U.S.-Canada border must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, are subject to random arrival testing and are mandated to load data through the ArriveCAN app within 72 hours of travel, according to an announcement from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

“As we move into the next phase of our COVID-19 response, it is important to remember that the pandemic is not over,” Canada Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said in a statement. “We must continue to do all that we can to keep ourselves and others safe from the virus.”

The announcement follows a decision from the Canadian government in June to pause mandatory vaccination requirements for most domestic and international air travelers, as well as the suspension of the mandatory vaccination requirement for employers in the country’s federally regulated air, rail and marine sectors.


The United States has an identical border policy for truck drivers and unvaccinated foreign nationals in place. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced in April it was indefinitely extending the requirement of non-U.S. individuals seeking to enter the U.S. from Canada or Mexico by land — including essential activities such as work, business or education — to provide proof of full vaccination against COVID-19.

About 30,000 trucks cross the U.S.-Canada border every day, including the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit to Windsor, Canada. The bridge is a vital trade link, processing about 10,000 trucks and $300 million to $500 million worth of goods daily.

Protests over vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions erupted across Canada in January, with truck blockades halting commercial traffic at critical U.S.-Canada border crossings.

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5 Comments

  1. Michele Smith

    The people coming over the border from Mexico into the southern States are not tested for Covid 19 nor do they need to be vaccinated. This seems like discrimination of unvaccinated US citizens who can not travel freely. Seems like people here illegally have more rights than our US citizens who are doing everything right. This also leads me to believe that the US government is not worried about people coming into the country who may have Covid 19 while they keep telling you to get your third or fourth jab to protect you and others around you.
    Good article Noi, by the way.

  2. Jason Oh

    It’s kinda funny still to mandate the vaccine because the currently prevalent BA.1~5 are totally avoiding the vaccine’s antibody. It means vaccines are almost not working for the current variant of Covid. They cannot be even called Covid.

  3. S.

    The original claim that myocarditis was caused by the vaccine was withdrawn. The original claim was that 10 in 30,000 people would experience heart problems after taking the vaccine. The actual number is about 27 in 750,000 people would experience myocarditis directly caused by the vaccine. The truth is that your risk of heart issues are close to 70x higher after COVID than after the vaccine.

    1. Alan

      This is a joke. The only people getting covid still are the vaccinated. People are dying from the shot everywhere. Causing heart attacks. The Canadian govt is either that corrupt or really stupid.

Comments are closed.

Noi Mahoney

Noi Mahoney is a Texas-based journalist who covers cross-border trade, logistics and supply chains for FreightWaves. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in English in 1998. Mahoney has more than 20 years experience as a journalist, working for newspapers in Maryland and Texas. Contact [email protected]