This post is updated as of Thursday, June 4.
In March, Canada began shutting down as the number of COVID-19 cases and resulting deaths soared. Now, with the initial stage of the epidemic slowing in many parts of the nation, provinces and territories are rolling out their reopening plans. Every jurisdiction is providing detailed advice, some with colour-coded charts and graphics.
A few general caveats:
- A business or service may have reopened but that does not mean it has returned to “before COVID-19” standards.
- People should expect that public health limits and distancing guidelines are in place, governing everything from the number of people in stores and restaurants to how professionals deal with close-contact situations and even how many people can attend a funeral. Self-isolation rules and other restrictions often do not apply to essential workers, such as truckers.
- Not all services will resume in all areas at the start of each reopening phase.
Canada
There are rules on a national level in areas of federal jurisdiction:
- Everyone returning from foreign travel must immediately go into a mandatory 14-day quarantine
- All air travellers must wear masks
- All international flights are restricted to airports in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal
- The Canada-U.S. border is closed to non-essential travel until at least June 21
To skip directly to information and instructions for your home province on this post, follow the applicable link below:
British Columbia
Alberta
Saskatchewan
Manitoba
Ontario
Quebec
New Brunswick
Prince Edward Island
Nova Scotia
Newfoundland and Labrador
British Columbia
Name: Restart Plan
Current status: Stage 2, as of May 19
What reopens:
- Restoration of health services
- Re-scheduling elective surgery
- Medically related services:
- Dentistry, physiotherapy, registered massage therapy, and chiropractors
- Physical therapy, speech therapy, and similar services
- Retail sector
- Hair salons, barbers, and other personal service establishments
- In-person counselling
- Restaurants, cafés, and pubs
- Museums, art galleries, and libraries
- Office-based worksites
- Recreation and sports
- Parks, beaches, and outdoor spaces
- Child care
- Parents will have the choice of bringing their children back to class on a part-time basis on June 1
Gatherings: Limited to 50 or fewer
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No
What’s next: Phase 3 from June to September.
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Hotels and Resorts (June 2020)
- Parks – broader reopening, including some overnight camping (June)
- Film industry – beginning with domestic productions (June/July)
- Select entertainment – movies and symphony, but not large concerts (July)
- Post-secondary education – with mix of online and in-class (September)
- K-12 education – with only a partial return this school year (September)
Here is B.C.’s main provincial COVID-19 website.
Alberta
Name: Relaunch Strategy
Current status: Stage 1, as of May 14
What reopens:
- Retail businesses like clothing, furniture and book stores
- All farmers’ market vendors
- Hairstyling and barber shops
- Cafés, restaurants, pubs and bars can reopen for table service
- Some scheduled, non-urgent surgeries to resume
- Museums and art galleries.
- Daycares and out-of-school care
- Day camps, including summer school.
- Post-secondary institutions will continue course delivery
- Places of worship and funeral services
- Dog parks and playgrounds
Gatherings: Limited to 15 or fewer indoors and 50 or fewer outdoors
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No
What’s next: Stage 2 (no earlier than June 19)
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- K-12 schools
- Libraries
- More surgeries scheduled
- Services by health disciplines, such as acupuncture and massage therapy
- Personal services, such as artificial tanning, esthetics, cosmetic skin and body treatments, manicures, pedicures, waxing, facial treatments and reflexology
- Larger gatherings permitted 15 people indoors and 30 outdoors
- Movie theatres and theatres
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.
Saskatchewan
Name: Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan
Current status: Phase two, as of May 19
What reopens:
- Retail businesses, including clothing stores, jewellers, toy stores, travel agencies, marinas, flower shops
- Shopping malls
- Personal service businesses, including hair salons, registered massage therapists, acupuncturists
- Public markets and farmers’ markets
As of May 19, Saskatchewan Health Authority entered phase one of its own reopening schedule, focusing on:
- outpatient physiotherapy appointments
- kidney health services
- some laboratory services
- home care (e.g. bathing services) expanded immunizations
Gatherings: Limited to 10 or fewer (Outdoor size limit rises to 30, as of June 8)
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No
What’s next: Phase three, from June 8
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Personal service businesses, including tattoo artists, estheticians, manicurists, suntanning parlours
- Restaurant and food services
- Gyms and fitness facilities
- Licensed establishments
- Childcare facilities
- Places of worship
- Gatherings up to 15 people indoors and 30 people outdoors
Note: La Loche can proceed with Phase 1 and 2 reopenings, as of June 8. But indoor gatherings are limited to 10 or fewer people
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.
Manitoba
Name: Restoring Safe Services
Current status: Phase two, as of June 1
What reopens:
- Restaurants, bars etc. to operate patio and dine-in services
- Sports activities
- Swimming pools, fitness clubs and community centres
- Film production
- Dance, art and theatres reopen
- Day camp groups up to 24 people
- Manicurists, tattoo parlours and tanning parlours, etc.
- Direct travel to northern parks, campgrounds, cabins, etc.
Gatherings: Limited to 25 people or fewer indoors and 50 people outdoors, as of May 22
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes
What’s next: Phase three, no sooner than June 21
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Businesses move to 50 per cent occupancy limits
- Movie theatres, casinos, bingo halls and indoor recreational facilities
- Amusement parks, etc.
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.
Ontario
Name: A Framework for Reopening Our Province
Current status: Stage 1, as of May 19
What reopens:
- retail stores with street-front entrances, car dealerships
- off-leash dog parks, water sports, tennis courts, outdoor sports facilities, etc.
- scheduled surgeries, procedures and services in hospitals, independent health facilities, clinics and private practices
- religious services, drive-in only
- libraries for pickup or deliveries
- indoor and outdoor household services, such as cleaning and maintenance
- veterinarians, pet grooming
- Backcountry camping available at provincial parks, as of June 1
Gatherings: Limited to five or fewer
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No
What’s next: Stage 2 (timing TBD but likely 2-4 weeks after Stage 1)
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- More workplaces, including service industries as well as office and retail workplaces
- Larger public gatherings
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.
Quebec
Name: Gradual Resumption of Activities under the COVID-19-Related Pause
Current status: The province’s gradual reopening doesn’t have defined phases, such as those in other provincial plans. Reopening unrolled on a sector-by-sector basis, beginning on May 4.
What reopens:
- Gradual withdrawal of checkpoints in remote regions within the province
- Street-front retail businesses open
- Non-priority mining and manufacturing enterprises, as well as construction sector, resume
- Real estate brokers and building appraisers
- Pre-schools and elementary schools open
- Childcare services back in business
- Outdoor sports and leisure activities
- Dental services
- Therapeutic care businesses, including physiotherapy, massage therapy
- Libraries and museums
- Performance halls, film studios (without audiences)
- Drive-in movie theatres
- Marinas
Note: Greater Montreal is on a more gradual schedule due to higher case numbers
Gatherings: As of May 22, limited to 10 people outside, including those from no more than three households
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No
What’s next: Rolling, sector-by-sector reopenings
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Day camps (June 22)
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.
New Brunswick
Name: Recovery Plan
Current status: Yellow level, as of May 22
What reopens:
- Two-household bubble can be extended to close friends and family with indoor gatherings limited to 10 or fewer people
- Non-regulated health professionals and businesses open, including acupuncturists and naturopaths
- Personal services and businesses may open, including barbers, hairstylists, spas, estheticians, manicurists, pedicurists and tattoo artists
- Outdoor public gatherings of 50 people or fewer
- Religious services, including wedding and funerals, of 50 people or fewer, both indoors and outdoors
- Elective surgeries and other non-emergency health-care services will increase
- Low-contact team sports
- Swimming pools, saunas and waterparks, gyms, yoga and dance studios, rinks and indoor recreational facilities, pool halls and bowling alleys
On June 19: Overnight camps open
Note: Zone 5 (Campbellton region) returned to Orange level on May 27, as it has reported cases linked to a returnee who did not self-isolate. This means:
- Return to a two-household bubble
- Non-regulated health professionals and businesses, such as acupuncturists and naturopaths cannot operate.
- Personal services businesses, such as barbers, hair stylists, spas, estheticians, manicurists, pedicurists, and tattoo artists, cannot operate
Gatherings: Limited to 10 or fewer (as of May 22)
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes
What’s next: Green level (timing TBD, but some dates have been given)
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Gatherings with physical distancing of 50 or fewer (June 5)
- Increase in elective surgeries and other non-emergency health-care services (June 5)
- Swimming pools, saunas and waterparks (June 5)
- Gyms, yoga and dance studios (June 5)
- Rinks and indoor recreational facilities (June 5)
- Pool halls and bowling alleys (June 5)
- Low-contact team sports (June 5)
NOTE: Zone 5 (Campbellton) is excluded from these relaxations
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.
Nova Scotia
Name: Preparing to Reopen Nova Scotia
Current status: Initial steps, as of May 1
What reopens:
- Two-household bubble
- provincial and municipal parks, community gardens
- garden centres, nurseries and similar businesses
- sport fishing is permitted from shore or boat
- golf driving ranges
- Cottages (restricted to one household unit at a time)
- drive-in religious services will be allowed
Gatherings: Limited to 10 or fewer, as of May 29
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes
What’s next: The next reopening step will occur on June 5.
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Dine-in restaurants, bars, etc.
- Hair salons, spas, nail salons, etc.
- Gyms, yoga studios, etc.
- Veterinarians
- Dentists, optometrists and similar professions
- Massage therapy, podiatry, etc.
- Other businesses required to close under the public health order
- Private campgrounds
- Provincial campgrounds (N.S. residents only, June 15)
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.
Prince Edward Island
Name: Renew PEI, Together
Current status: Phase Three, as of June 1
What reopens:
- Organized recreational activities including soccer, baseball and day camps, swimming pools and gyms
- Art galleries, libraries and community centres
- Nail salons, spas, tattoo studios
- Indoor dining at food premises
- Accommodation at campgrounds, inns, B&Bs (P.E.I. residents only)
- Elective dental care
Gatherings: Gatherings of up to 15 people indoors and 20 people outdoors
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes
What’s next: Phase 4 (timing TBD)
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Dental services expand, hygienists return (June 12)
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.
Newfoundland and Labrador
Name: A Foundation for Living with Covid-19
Current status: Alert Level 4, as of April 30
What reopens:
- Double household bubble
- Funeral and wedding gatherings restricted to 10 people or fewer
- Recreational fishing and hunting, golf courses
- Municipal parks
- Some health care services resume
- In-person services offered by professional services, such as lawyers and accountants
- Gardening centres, landscaping services
- Animal day cares
- As of May 27, the government reinstates in-person family visitations for children and youths in care.
Gatherings: Limited to 10 or fewer
Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes
What’s next: Alert Level 3, no earlier than June 8
What’s on the reopening schedule:
- Gatherings expand to no more than 20 people
- Day-use campsites
- Summer day camps
- Field sports, outdoor pools
- Private health clinics
- Retail stores, including those in shopping malls
- Personal service businesses, including hair salons
- Dine-in eating
Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.