Public Health Agency mum after dozens of 'erroneous tickets' issued at the border

Victoria -

Dozens of B.C. travellers who legally entered the United States to get gas and groceries were mistakenly fined Monday following a delay in relaying new travel rules to frontline border staff.

Denis Vinette, the vice-president of travel services for the Canada Border Services Agency, said while the policy was changed on Sunday, confusion over the new rules wasn't cleared up for border officers until Monday evening.

"Every time there's a change of this nature, there is a bit of a transition period," he told CTV News in an interview. "Regrettably, it resulted in what we saw yesterday, where individuals were referred and subjected to fines."

Vinette said the Public Health Agency of Canada is reviewing those tickets but couldn’t provide any further information on what happens next.

Trina Brady was one of the travellers caught up in the confusion. link to yesterday's story here She travelled to Blaine to buy gas, milk and cheese, and upon her return was told she needed a negative PCR test even though the rules had changed. She received a $5,750 fine and was ordered to quarantine.

"I think they have a social responsibility that when they're making changes, to get that information out within their organization before the changes happen, so that they're not affecting unsuspecting and innocent people in the process," she said in an interview with CTV News.

CBSA tweeted the new rules Sunday. Unfortunately, no one told border staff for more than a day. As a result, $5,750 fines were issued at several crossings – to likely dozens of people following new rules – as border officials operated on old information.

Meika Lalonde is an immigration lawyer who said government departments may not be talking to each other.

"We saw a lot of confusion, particularly in the early days of the pandemic, with the interpretation of the Quarantine Act. And so I'm just not surprised that a tweet from the from the federal government didn't necessarily make its way down to these frontline officers," she told CTV News.

While border guards are the gatekeepers, the Public Health Agency issues the fines. CTV News first sent a request for information Monday, and multiple others since, but has not received a response.

Brady has been phoning and emailing for two days trying to find out how to get the fine and quarantine order lifted. She said she's lucky to have that flexibility, but others may not.

She's also worried about those who may have returned to the United States after being questioned by a border officer.

"We were given two options. You take this fine or you turn around and you go back to the states, you get that PCR test," she said.

Those tests can take days, meaning there could be many more people stuck waiting in the U.S. when they shouldn't be.