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OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – The Canadian federal government’s much-maligned ArriveCAN app is being investigated by a federal privacy commissioner due to a protest.

According to an email from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the office has “received and is currently investigating a complaint that raises concerns with respect to the collection of personal information through ArriveCAN and subsequent use of that information.”

The Commissioner’s Office at this time will not say where the complaint originated from.

The investigation into the travel app, which one MP recently dubbed as nothing more than a “worthless” tool to “track” Canadians, is still “ongoing,” the Commissioner’s Office said

ArriveCAN was launched in April 2020 by the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and made mandatory in November 2020.

“If you don’t submit your travel information and proof of vaccination using ArriveCAN, you could be fined $5,000,” the government says.

Critics of ArriveCAN for some time have sounded the alarm over privacy concerns.

Conservative Party leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis called for it to be scrapped. Interim CPC leader Candice Bergen recently called for it to be removed.

Despite ending ArriveCAN, the government has doubled down on the app, and recently announced changes to ArriveCAN in what it claims is a bid to help travelers save time. The new changes expand the apps use beyond its original intent.

According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), travelers now have the option to submit their immigration along with customs declaration up to 72 hours in advance before entering Canada. This feature will only be available at Toronto Pearson, Montreal-Trudeau, and Vancouver International Airports.

A recent LifeSiteNews report highlights how ArriveCAN has caused much major controversy in recent weeks, notably after Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said the app’s functions would be expanded beyond COVID.

Last month, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) warned that the Trudeau government’s plan to use ArriveCAN beyond what its original intention was “erodes” individual privacy and “infringes” on each Canadians’ “mobility” rights.

A top constitutional law group told LifeSiteNews that the Trudeau government’s plan to use the ArriveCAN app “beyond” the scope of COVID poses a “serious” threat to “privacy.

According to tech analyst Bianca Wylie, as reported in Global News, the idea that “public health rationale was used in a time of fear and crisis to push this forward,” you “can’t just coast off of that and then switch the purpose of the app.”

Indeed, even the Tourism Industry Association of Canada has called for an end to the app.

As the app has been riddled with much problems, the Canadian federal government admitted ArriveCAN has indeed wrongly placed fully jabbed people into quarantine.

Recently, news broke that David Crouch, who despite having four COVID shots, was told by the ArriveCAN app that he had to quarantine for 14 days when he got home.

In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Ontario Dr. Ann Gillies recounted in detail being fined $6,255 for non-compliance with the ArriveCAN app after returning home via a land border.

As it stands now, all travelers arriving in Canada must use the ArriveCAN app to submit their travel and contact information, as well as any COVID vaccination details, before crossing the border or boarding a flight.

 

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