To take unvaccinated kids to Canada?

[firstchopanonion]

Sorry, a bit of a traffic post but trying to catch the Canadian parents on here!

We are due to visit elderly relatives in Ontario this summer but I've checked the entry requirements for unvaccinated kids and it a) doesn't look like we're allowed to stay with our relatives and b) looks like there are a lot of restrictions on what they can do while we're there.

We can avoid public transport, we can avoid busy places (relatives live very rurally and we our plans are hiking/swimming/boating anyway), we can rent a cottage and not stay with them, but is the trip going to be such a headache we should postpone? This would be the third summer in the row of having to do so, and relatives are very eager for us to come (as are we very eager to go!)

Under the current restrictions I wouldn't go - My brother, SIL and young nephew live in Nova Scotia and my parents went our for Christmas- they could not go anywhere or do anything without prebooking, wearing masks, ID and proof of vaccination and they said it just made everything take much linger and was more stressful

@melj1213

Other than wearing masks and needing to show proof of vaccination (for adults) in some places - most of the other restrictions are now gone and more are lifting in the next few weeks with a plan that pretty much everything is back to normal (other than wearing masks) by end of March. I don't know yet about vaccine passports but it really isn't a big deal.

Travel will likely change too pretty soon. There is quite a bit of pressure on the government now to reduce travel restrictions and I think we will see those ease in the near future.

This is all assuming we don't have another major wave.

Masks aren't a big deal to us, we are in Scotland so quite accustomed to masks. The DC won't be bothered by having to wear them again. Almost everywhere we plan to go while we're there is outdoors - we normally only eat out a couple of times.

So I'm just keeping fingers tightly crossed for easing of travel restrictions now!

Our DS came to Canada to see us in November, a month before Christmas. He is triple vaxed. He did not have any restrictions on him at all except the same ones we had. Proof of vaccination for some places like restaurants.

We were not limited at all really. He had no trouble with his UK proof of vax docs.

It seems that contrary to popular opinion Canada is not a police state.

Hi 👋

I’m Canadian living in the U.K. . I took my unvaccinated kids to Ottawa last Summer for the month of August, a baby and a toddler . At the time the rules were that unvaccinated travellers had to isolate for 14 days but only the kids ( not me who is vaccinated). We were allowed to stay at my parents during this time. My parents and I could come and go as we please . We were not allowed visitors in the house during this time .We were there for 5 weeks so it was worth our time to do
this . While we were there they changed the rules so unvaccinated kids didn’t have to isolate anymore but when I called up they told me that I had to follow the original rules . That was a bit annoying. My poor kids, although the weather was stunning and my parents have a huge backyard so they ran around a lot and barely noticed .

Just to say, I crossed the border yesterday, and I'm pretty sure the PP who said there are random quarantines is wrong. You have to have a negative PCR or NAAT test to enter, but they pick visitors at random on arrival for another test, and depending on the result of that test, you may have to quarantine. They don't just pick random people at immigration and tell them to quarantine! That would be bonkers.

Families with children are very unlikely to be picked for random testing (it's not picked by a machine but by the border guards).

It's incredibly annoying because vaccinations are the one Covid requirement likely to be in place for some time to come, so I'm not sure waiting it out is an option. If you can get them into Canada, get them vaxxed while there! Hope it works out for you.

Ontario is lifting vaccination mandates as of mid March. Most other restrictions are gone as of mid February.

Now just waiting on feds to lift travel related restrictions

i don't know if you will find this helpful but my dd and uk (unvax'd) grand kids came at christmas.
my dd's partner and one of her children were selected for random testing upon arrival.
the testing stations at the airports for their arrival tests were not set up and they were not questioned when they boarded their second flight.
upon arrival they were told test kits for the kids would be couriered to their location on day 2 and 8 (they stayed 10 days) no such kits arrived.
they went skiing they used their cell phones, no checks no emails nothing during the 10 day stay. no questions at the ski hill or ski school.
certainly no one came to the house (which they listed as their destination to see if we were home).
this was our experience and i wasn't surprised.
however the cost of tests to return home and booking the tests was not easy/tricky as this town doesn't have many locations and no service on sunday.

We are in Vancouver now. Have had no problems. My husband and I are both vaccinated and have a 10 year old and 6 year old. We arrived last Friday and were prepared to have some problems but it has all gone smoothly

I’m in Ontario. As others have said most restrictions relating to vaccine passports and capacity levels will lift within weeks. There’s been a lot of pressure to relax the testing / quarantine requirements for travel and assuming we stay on the current trajectory I think they will be relaxed.

We are the same. Elderly in laws (82 and 83) in Ontario. DS2 is 9 and there are too many restrictions to make it viable for us to go. If they relax them, we will consider it, but for now it all appears to be too much. They may well have to come here, as hard as that is, it is still easier than spending a lot of money and not being able to do stuff.

I would postpone. I live in US and my parents have a second home at a Canadian ski area and every time we try to go up with our unvaccinated toddler it’s just not possible. Rules change, she’s supposed to quarantine indoors etc for 14 days. Even my retired parents with a lot of flexibility have only been able to get up there a couple times since covid with restrictions.

Thanks all. This is mostly good news, actually!

Quarantine requirements for minor unvaccinated children travelling with vaccinated adults are being lifted on March 1st.

Barring another covid wave, it looks like you are good to go OP!

Another Ontario/Brit here, I would hold out a bit longer. A family friend of ours was fined in August for $5000!!