Canada Will Not Open To Visitors For Quite A While, Trudeau Says

Days after Canada dropped its quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated Canadians entering the country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected the idea that non-essential unvaccinated visitors will soon be allowed in “I can tell you right now that’s not going to happen for quite a while,” Trudeau said during a campaign-style stop in British Columbia on Thursday.

Trudeau did not say when vaccinated travelers would be permitted.The Canada-US border remains closed to non-essential travel until at least July 21 and only Canadian citizens and residents are currently allowed to enter the country, unless they are exempted in order to carry out essential work.

“We need to continue to ensure that the safety of Canadians,” Trudeau said, adding the government needed to make sure that the sacrifices people have been making for months “are not for nothing.”On July 5, the government eased mandatory quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated nationals and residents arriving from abroad. Federal officials called this a “first phase” of reopening given the pace of vaccination in Canada.