The federal government’s ArriveCAN app, developed during the pandemic to regulate travel documents and proof of vaccinations, is now the focus of a probe into a $60 million scandal. A Parliamentary committee is looking into how an app that one tech firm said could have been developed for less than $1 million, was contracted for, well, $59.5 mil., and to just two people, with a background in securing government contracts, GC Strategies. They in turn subcontracted to a couple of dozen programmers. An Auditor General’s report slammed the contract, saying the developers showed "glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices" and that taxpayers "paid too much." The app not only was expensive but subject to flaws. Such as when it told travellers to quarantine when they didn’t need to or discouraging Americans from visiting and shopping in Canada. But, in hindsight, all of this makes perfect sense in light of my own problems with the app.
Incident 1 – Athens, August 2021. My first trip after travel rules eased was also my first time in Greece for a very hot but delightful week, touring Athens, north to Delphi and a few of the Saronic Islands southwest of the city. All went swimmingly until the day prior to my return to Canada. I whipped out my cellphone and tried to log on to the app, uploading my vaccine information. I couldn’t log on! I tried several times but no go. I wondered if a computer would be easier. Ever try to find a computer in a strange city? I went to the office in my hotel. They let me use a staff computer. But it was taking too much time, and I didn’t want to impose. So off I went downtown, about a 20-minute walk, to the Air Canada office. Except the Air Canada office is one office on, like, the sixth floor of a nondescript building shared by several airlines. And the door was locked, and you could only talk by intercom. I told my problem and they said to go to the Canadian Embassy. Great! So I took a cab across town arriving just before lunch, when the embassy closes down. Come back at 1 pm, the receptionist, who knew nothing about ArriveCAN, said. “Try the McDonald’s Wi-Fi a block away.” I did – and met a great Canadian guy, a lawyer, from Montreal with family in Greece and who was temporarily living there – but it didn’t work at the resto either. Back to the embassy. Luckily the embassy had a public computer kiosk, to which I was sent. And the app finally worked! My fear was I would have shown up at the airport and, without an updated app, they wouldn’t let me on the plane. No fear, because when I arrived at Toronto Pearson Customs, I was pleasantly told, “You could have done that here!”
Incident 2 – Frankfurt, May 2022. We arrived at check-in and this time the Air Canada rep (I can still picture his humorous demeanor and bald head) wouldn’t give us boarding passes until I showed an updated ArriveCAN, the reverse of the Athens situation. It took several minutes to scroll through my phone documents and finally find the certificates. Phew!
So, my friends, as it turned out, my ArriveCAN experiences totally made sense considering the nonsensical incompetence that was built into this boondoggle.
- Ron Stang, a frequent traveller, Windsor Ontario Canada
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