There is some good news for parents wanting to take their young children down to Point Roberts or returning home to any Canadian land border crossing for that matter.
Starting Monday (April 25), kids under the age of 12 will again be exempt from quarantine or needing a negative COVID test to enter Canada, regardless of their vaccination status. They must be accompanied by parents, step-parents, guardians or tutors that are fully vaccinated or meet all the entry conditions.
It’s Canada’s Order in Council simply reverting back to the previous rules after catching some families by surprise earlier this month.
When mandatory pre-entry COVID testing was dropped back on April 1 at all Canadian border entry points, the rules were also tightened for children under 12 that now needed to be fully vaccinated or provide proof of a negative COVID test.
At the Boundary Bay crossing in Delta, families that had taken advantage of the special exemption to visit Point Roberts for some time, were issued warnings the first few days and told the next time they would be stuck on the U.S. side of the border waiting to be tested.
“A warning to Point Roberts crossers with kids over five. Make sure that they have their double doses as the new rules state,” Tsawwassen resident Pascal Bajgar wrote to the Optimist earlier this month. “Our two kids only had one jab. The vigilant Canadian border agents released us with a warning but warned we could have been stuck in Point Roberts for a few days until the testing centre (opens again).
“The new rule came into effect on (April 1), that’s why we were confused because we had travelled to the Point at least five times previously with the kids with no issues.”
