Quarantine Act (S.C. 2005, c. 20)

Marginal note:Warrant required to enter dwelling-place

• 48 (1) A quarantine officer and an environmental health officer may not enter or inspect a dwelling-place without the consent of its occupant except under the authority of a warrant.

• Marginal note:Authority to issue warrant

  (2) A justice may, on ex parte application, at any time sign and issue a warrant authorizing the officer named in it to enter and inspect a dwelling-place, subject to any conditions that may be specified in the warrant, if the justice is satisfied by information on oath that

  • (a) the dwelling-place or its contents could be the source of a communicable disease;

  • (b) entry to the dwelling-place is necessary for a purpose relating to the administration of this Act; and

  • (c) entry to the dwelling-place has been refused or there are reasonable grounds to believe that it will be refused.

• Marginal note:Use of force

  (3) A quarantine officer or an environmental health officer who executes a warrant shall not use force unless they are accompanied by a peace officer and the use of force is specifically authorized in the warrant.

Marginal note:Public officer powers

49 A quarantine officer and an environmental health officer are public officers for the purposes of the application of section 487 of the Criminal Code in respect of an offence under this Act.

Marginal note:Assistance to quarantine officer or environmental health officer

50 The owner or the person in charge of a place or conveyance inspected by a quarantine officer or an environmental health officer under section 47 and any person found in the place shall

• (a) give the officer all reasonable assistance to enable the officer to perform their duties and functions under this Act; and

• (b) provide the officer with any information relevant to the administration of this Act that the officer may reasonably request.

Marginal note:Compelling production of information

51 A quarantine officer or an environmental health officer may order any person to provide any information or record in their possession about a traveller that the officer may reasonably require in the performance of the officer’s duties and functions under this Act, or to give the officer access to such information.

Marginal note:Peace officer to assist officer acting under this Act

52 A peace officer shall provide any assist­ance that an officer acting under this Act may request for the purpose of administering or enforcing this Act.

Marginal note:Exercise of powers outside Canada

53 A screening officer, a quarantine officer or an environmental health officer may exercise any power or perform any duty or function under this Act respecting a traveller or conveyance at an entry point in another country if doing so does not conflict with the laws of that country.

Information

Marginal note:Report of contravention

• 54 (1) A person who, in good faith, reports to a screening officer, a quarantine officer or an environmental health officer a contravention of this Act by another person, or the reasonable likelihood of such a contravention, may request that their identity, and any information that could reasonably reveal their identity, not be disclosed to their employer or the other person.

• Marginal note:Confidentiality

  (2) Subject to any other Act of Parliament, no person shall disclose or permit the disclosure of that identity or information unless authorized in writing by the person who made the request.

• Marginal note:Protection of person

  (3) Despite any other Act of Parliament, no person shall dismiss, suspend, demote, discipline, deny a benefit of employment to, harass or otherwise disadvantage a person for having

  • (a) made a report under subsection (1);

  • (b) refused or stated an intention of refusing to do anything that they believed on reasonable grounds was or would be a contravention under this Act; or

  • (c) done or stated an intention to do anything that they believed on reasonable grounds was required under this Act.

Marginal note:Collection of medical information

55 The Minister may collect relevant medical information in order to carry out the purposes of this Act.

Marginal note:Disclosure to governments, etc.

• 56 (1) The Minister may disclose confidential business information or personal information obtained under this Act to a department or to an agency of the Government of Canada or of a province, a government or public health authority, whether domestic or foreign, a health practitioner or an international health organization if the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure is necessary to prevent the spread of a communicable disease or to enable Canada to fulfill its international obligations.

• Marginal note:Disclosure to person in transport business

  (2) The Minister may disclose personal information obtained under this Act to a person engaged in the business of carrying persons or cargo, or to an international transportation organization, if the Minister has reasonable grounds to believe that the person to whom the information relates has or might have a communicable disease, or has recently been in close proximity to a person who has or might have a communicable disease, and that the disclosure is necessary to prevent the spread of the disease.

• Marginal note:Notification of disclosure

  (3) If any personal information or confidential business information is disclosed under this section, the Minister shall notify the person or business to whom the information relates of the disclosure.

Marginal note:Disclosure for law enforcement purposes

57 If the Minister has reasonable grounds to suspect that information obtained in the administration of this Act would be relevant to investigating or prosecuting an offence under Part II.1 of the Criminal Code involving an infectious agent or biological toxin, the Minister may disclose any of the following information to a peace officer:

• (a) the name, sex, age and date of birth of the traveller;

• (b) a photograph of the traveller and any other means of identifying them;

• (c) the traveller’s itinerary, home address and location;

• (d) the description of any conveyance used for carrying the traveller;

• (e) the name of the infectious agent or biological toxin; and

• (f) the manner in which the traveller may have acquired the communicable disease or vectors.

Emergency Orders

Marginal note:Order prohibiting entry into Canada

• 58 (1) The Governor in Council may make an order prohibiting or subjecting to any condition the entry into Canada of any class of persons who have been in a foreign country or a specified part of a foreign country if the Governor in Council is of the opinion that

  • (a) there is an outbreak of a communicable disease in the foreign country;

  • (b) the introduction or spread of the disease would pose an imminent and severe risk to public health in Canada;

  • (c) the entry of members of that class of persons into Canada may introduce or contribute to the spread of the communicable disease in Canada; and

  • (d) no reasonable alternatives to prevent the introduction or spread of the disease are available.

• Marginal note:Effect of order

  (2) The order has effect for the period specified in it and may be renewed if the conditions in subsection (1) continue to apply.

Marginal note:Prohibition on importing

59 The Governor in Council may make an order prohibiting or subjecting to any condition the importing of any thing into Canada or any part of Canada, either generally or from any place named in the order, for any period that the Governor in Council considers necessary for the purpose of preventing the introduction or spread of a communicable disease in Canada.

Marginal note:Interim orders

• 60 (1) The Minister may make an interim order containing any provision that could be contained in a regulation made under section 62 or 63 if the Minister is of the opinion that immediate action is required to deal with a significant risk, direct or indirect, to public health.

• Marginal note:Cessation of effect

  (2) The interim order has effect from the time that it is made but ceases to have effect on the earliest of

  • (a) 14 days after the day on which it is made, unless it is approved by the Governor in Council,

  • (b) the day on which it is repealed,

  • (c) the day on which a regulation made under section 62 or 63 that has the same effect as the interim order comes into force, and

  • (d) one year after the day on which it is made or any shorter period that it specifies.

• Marginal note:Deeming

  (3) For the purpose of any provision of this Act other than this section, any reference to regulations made under this Act is deemed to include interim orders, and any reference to a regulation made under a specified provision of this Act is deemed to include a reference to any portion of an interim order containing a provision that may be contained in a regulation made under the specified provision.

Marginal note:Exemption from Statutory Instruments Act

• 61 (1) An order made under any of sections 58 to 60

  • (a) is exempt from the application of sections 3, 5 and 11 of the Statutory Instruments Act; and

  • (b) shall be published in the Canada Gazette within 23 days after the day on which it is made.

• Marginal note:Tabling of order

  (2) A copy of the order shall be tabled in each House of Parliament within 15 days after the day on which it is made.

• Marginal note:House not sitting

  (3) In order to comply with subsection (2), the order may be sent to the Clerk of the House if the House is not sitting.

• Marginal note:Contravention of unpublished order

  (4) No person shall be convicted of an offence consisting of a contravention of the order if, at the time of the alleged contravention, the order had not been published in the Canada Gazette, unless it is proved that, at the time of the alleged contravention, the person had been notified of the order or reasonable steps had been taken to bring the purport of the order to the notice of persons likely to be affected by it.

Regulations

Marginal note:Governor in Council

62 The Governor in Council may make regulations

• (a) respecting physical examinations carried out for the purposes of a health assessment;

• (a.1) respecting any compensation that is to be paid under this Act;

• (b) respecting the types of costs that a person is not required to pay under section 41;

• (c) respecting the location, design, construction, installation, operation, maintenance, marking and modification of a quarantine facility or quarantine station;

• (c.1) respecting the specifications for areas and facilities provided under subsection 6(2);

• (d) respecting the process of review under section 29;

• (e) respecting the information to be provided by the operator of a conveyance and any other traveller on board;

• (f) respecting the information to be provided by a traveller;

• (g) after consultation with the Privacy Commissioner, as defined in the Privacy Act, respecting the protection of personal information;

• (h) respecting the place and manner of embarkation of travellers at a departure point, or disembarkation of travellers at an entry point, and the loading and unloading of goods and cargo onto and from a conveyance;

• (i) respecting the methods of disinfecting, disinfesting, decontaminating or fumigating conveyances, goods, cargo and places and of disinfesting travellers;

• (j) respecting the declaration of health referred to in paragraph 39(1)(f);

• (k) respecting the carrying into Canada of, the exporting from Canada of, or the transportation and the handling of, cadavers, body parts or other human remains that have, or are suspected of having, a communicable disease or that are, or are suspected of being, infested with vectors;

• (l) respecting the process for applications to the Federal Court for matters under this Act;

• (m) exempting any person or class of persons from the application of all or any of the provisions of this Act;

• (n) respecting anything that may be prescribed under this Act; and

• (o) generally, for carrying out the purposes and provisions of this Act.