Border measures related to COVID-19 | Fined, Quebecers say they are “deceived”

Measures concerning COVID-19 have disappeared at the borders for a year already, but Quebecers who stayed abroad while they were in force continue to receive heavy fines. Many now feel like they were cheated when they returned home.

In January 2022, Samia Plante hits the road to Hartford, Connecticut, before flying to Florida. “The pandemic had been difficult and we wanted to have a good time as a family,” says the mother of two children.

“We knew very well what the travel conditions were. We had set our appointments [à la clinique de prélèvement] before even leaving,” she says. At the time, you had to present a PCR test taken within 48 hours upon entering the country, but the conditions were constantly changing, which fueled some confusion (see box).

It is therefore in Fort Lauderdale that M is tested^me Plante, her partner, François Gravel, and their two children before flying back to Hartford. However, the results of the small family’s tests took longer than the usual 48 hours to be known. When she arrived at the Canadian land border, she was suggested to wait for the results to arrive, which she did. She is assured by the very fact that, in doing so, she would show “her collaboration and good will”.

M^me Plante acknowledges that she was then informed of the possibility of a fine and that she received a notice of non-compliance. “It would be wrong to say they didn’t tell us. » What she deplores, however, is the lack of transparency at the border.

“We were made to understand verbally that we had shown exemplary behavior and that we had nothing to worry about, that it was a formality to notify us. » However, 18 months later, M^me Plante and her partner were each given a statement of offense accompanied by a fine of $5,000, in addition to $1,250 in costs. The children were spared.

She and her husband have since pleaded not guilty. The Crown offered them to pay only one of the two fines, which they refused. Their case is due to go to court in early November.

“Like two prisoners”

For Mariette Lauzon, the unpleasant surprise arrived upon returning from a trip to France, in November 2021. Well aware that she needed to undergo a PCR test to return to the country, she went shortly before her return flight to a pharmacy in Provence with her husband, Serge Blaquière.

There, they meet a pharmacist, from whom they ask for a PCR test – necessary, they specify, for their return to Canada. However, the pharmacist instead carries out antigenic tests.

The couple’s series of bad luck does not end there. Upon arrival at the airport, the Air France employee responsible for checking his documents did not notice any anomalies. “If he had told us that we did not have the right test, we could have postponed our flight and carried out a new test at the airport,” says M^me Lauzon. In addition, she and Mr. Blaquière are given a ready2fly boarding pass which allows them to avoid further checks during their connection in Paris.

It is therefore with peace of mind that they cross the Atlantic, until their arrival in Montreal. There, a border agent notices that the couple’s negative results are not from PCR tests, but from antigen tests. “We were sent to a small room for several hours, we were like two detainees,” relates Mariette Lauzon.

Since the couple does not have the right tests, they are exposed to fines of $5,000, they are informed. He is given notices of non-compliance. Here again, however, the impression of having been misled: “We were told that it was just a formality. We understood that we shouldn’t worry. »

However, months later the infraction reports arrive, accompanied by heavy fines. “I can’t believe the amount,” said M^me Lauzon.

” A trap ”

Different story, same feeling for Douglas Beeson, who went with his daughter to the Washington area for the holiday season. Both contracted COVID-19 during their stay – they had positive PCR tests to attest to this when they arrived at the Canadian border.

“Our understanding of the rules, at that time, was that as Canadian citizens, we had the right to return to the country, then to quarantine ourselves afterwards,” says Mr. Beeson. This is why he informs the customs officer of the positive results from the outset.

The agent in question advises Mr. Beeson and his daughter that they must stop at a marquee located a hundred meters further on, on Canadian soil.

Mr. Beeson is then given a notice of non-compliance… but is left in limbo. At the beginning of summer 2023, however, the infraction reports arrived.

“I could very well have been told clearly: ‘Mr Beeson, you have no right to be here. Make a U-turn.” But no ! “, he said, exasperated. He claims that if he had been informed of the fine that awaited him, he would have turned back.

Like M^my Plante and Lauzon, he has the feeling of having been deceived. “It’s absurd. It’s completely a trap, this thing, and I hope the justice system will understand it,” says Mr. Beeson, who has pleaded not guilty.