Coronavirus in Canada: Reopening plans province-by-province

This post is updated as of Thursday, June 25.

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. (On June 8, Canada announced that immediate family members of Canadians or permanent residents would be allowed entry into Canada, with a 14-day quarantine.)

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

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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.

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Alberta

Name: Relaunch Strategy

Current status: Stage 2, as of June 12

What reopens:

• K-12 schools, for diploma exams and summer school
• 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
• Movie theatres and theatres
• Team sports and swimming pools
• Casinos, bingo halls
• Instrumental concerts
• Pharmacists dispensing up to a 100-day supply of prescription drugs

Gatherings: Larger gatherings permitted with 50 or fewer people indoors and 100 or fewer people outdoors (households can increase interactions to 15 or fewer people, with no physical distancing)

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No

What’s next: Stage 3 (TBD)

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Opening all workplaces and relaxing public gathering restrictions
• Arts and culture festivals, vocal concerts, major sporting events
• Nightclubs
• Industry conferences
• Unrestricted non-essential travel

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.

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Saskatchewan

Name: Re-Open Saskatchewan Plan

Current status: Phase four, as of June 22

What reopens (first part of Phase 4):

• Indoor and outdoor recreation facilities, including outdoor pools
• Child and youth day camps

Gatherings: Limited to 30 or fewer people indoors and outdoors (specific rules for religious services, weddings, funerals and outdoor graduations are here)

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No

What’s next: Second part of Phase four (TBD)

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Indoor pools, rinks
• Libraries, museums, galleries, movie theatres, casinos and bingo halls (as of June 29)

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.

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Manitoba

Name: Restoring Safe Services

Current status: Phase three, as of June 21

What reopens:

• Residents from B.C., Alta., Sask., Yukon, N.W.T., Nunavut and northwestern Ontario can visit Manitoba without having to self-isolate for 14 days
• Movie theatres, casinos, bingo halls and indoor recreational facilities
• Child care services return to regular capacity
• Occupancy limits for restaurants, bars, etc. are lifted
• Amusement parks, etc.
• People affiliated with professional sports teams may enter Manitoba if they follow specific rules

Gatherings: Public gatherings of 50 or fewer people indoors and 100 or fewer outdoors, with an exception that larger groups are allowed where gatherings can be physically divided into sub-groups of 50 or fewer indoors or 100 or fewer outdoors, to a maximum 30 per cent of usual capacity (specific rules for religious services, weddings, funerals, etc. are here)

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes

What’s next: Future phases are TBD

 

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.

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Ontario

Name: A Framework for Reopening Our Province

Current status: Stage 2, as of June 12

What reopens:

• Outdoor dine-in services at restaurants, bars, etc.
• Hair salons, tattoo parlours, etc.
• Shopping malls, with food services for take-out or outdoor dining
• Tour and guide services
• Water recreation facilities, including swimming pools
• Beach access at Ontario Parks
• Outdoor-only recreational facilities and team sport training
• Drive-in venues for theatres and animal attractions, etc.
• Film and television production
• Family visits at long-term care and other residential care homes, as of June 18
• Visits to patients in acute care hospitals

Note: As of Thursday, June 25, all regions of the province are in Stage 2 except for Leamington and Kingsville in Windsor-Essex. Those two areas remain in Stage 1 because of “higher transmission rates in the local agriculture and agri-food sector,” the government said. Under Stage 1 rules, the following is open:

• retail stores with street-front entrances, car dealerships
• off-leash dog parks, water sports, tennis courts, outdoor sports facilities, etc.
• religious services, drive-in only
• libraries for pickup or deliveries
• indoor and outdoor household services, such as cleaning and maintenance
• veterinarians, pet grooming

Gatherings:

• Gatherings of 10 or fewer people
• A “social circle” of no more than 10 people who can interact without physical distancing (for all regions)
• Places of worship can have attendance of no more than 30 per cent of the building’s capacity (for all regions)

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No

What’s next: Stage 3 (TBD)

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Remaining workplaces and community spaces

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.

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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, including supervised activities and competitions as well as pools and play structures in parks
• Learning camps at public schools
• Dental services
• Therapeutic care businesses, including physiotherapy, massage therapy
• Libraries and museums
• Performance halls, film studios (without audiences)
• Drive-in movie theatres
• Marinas
• Restaurants for dine-in and patio eating; food courts in shopping centres
• Day camps
• Zoos, gardens, visits to artisanal processors and agro-tourism farm

Note: Greater Montreal is on a more gradual schedule due to higher case numbers

Gatherings:

• Private gatherings of 10 or fewer people. Quebec strong recommends they include persons from no more than three households.
• Indoor public gatherings can be up to 50 or fewer people in public spaces (such as movie theatres etc., but not bars). In places where people are seated, the distancing is reduced from two metres to 1.5 m while those within a household can sit next to each other; children 16 and under can be within one metre of each other.
• Outdoor public gatherings of 50 or fewer people

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: No

What’s next: Rolling, sector-by-sector reopenings

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Maritime excursions (as of July 1)

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site. 

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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. Outdoor public gatherings of 50 people or fewer. (Religious services, including wedding and funerals, of 50 people or fewer, both indoors and outdoors)
• Non-regulated health professionals and businesses open, including acupuncturists and naturopaths
• Personal services and businesses may open, including barbers, hairstylists, spas, aestheticians, manicurists, pedicurists and tattoo artists
• 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
• Courts have resumed full dockets, as of June 9
• Overnight camps open
• Canadian residents can visit family or property in New Brunswick provided they self-isolate for 14-days, or the duration of the visit if shorter.

Note: On June 26, Zone 5 (Campbellton region) joins the rest of the province in the Yellow level. Until then, it stays at the Orange level, which 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, aestheticians, manicurists, pedicurists, and tattoo artists, cannot operate

Gatherings: Limited to 10 or fewer indoors, 50 or fewer outdoors (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:

• Atlantic Travel Bubble: Residents of Atlantic Canada can travel within the four provinces without the requirement to self-isolate provided they haven’t travelled outside Atlantic Canada in the previous 14 days, as per the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Visitors from the rest of Canada must follow local entry requirements regarding self-isolation (as of July 3)
• Reopening of all businesses and activities

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 website.

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Nova Scotia

Name: Preparing to Reopen Nova Scotia

Current status: as of June 5

What reopens:

• 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 that were required to close under the public health order
• Private campgrounds
• Provincial campgrounds (N.S. residents only)
• Licensed childcare centres and family daycare homes
• Playgrounds

Gatherings: Groups of 10 or fewer can gather without physical distancing (they are strongly encouraged to maintain a consistent group); gatherings of 50 or fewer are allowed with physical distancing for social events, faith gatherings, sports, culture events etc.

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes

What’s next:  TBD

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Atlantic Travel Bubble: Residents of Atlantic Canada can travel within the four provinces without the requirement to self-isolate provided they haven’t travelled outside Atlantic Canada in the previous 14 days, as per the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Visitors from the rest of Canada must follow local entry requirements regarding self-isolation (as of July 3)
• Provincial museums open on July 1

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.

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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
• Maximum of two visitors per resident for routine outdoor visits at long-term care facilities plus expanded visiting rules for end-of-life visits
• Dental services expand, hygienists return

Gatherings: Gatherings of up to 15 people indoors and 20 people outdoors

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes

What’s next: Phase 4 (as of June 26)

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Organized gatherings of 50 or fewer people, including for worship services, organized sports, day camps, funerals etc. (Personal gatherings will remain at 15 or fewer people indoors and 20 or fewer outdoors)
• Indoor visits by up to two individuals at a time for long-term care home residents
• Personal services, including facials and piercings, open
• Accommodations, including campgrounds, inns and B&Bs, open to non-P.E.I. residents
• Atlantic Travel Bubble: Residents of Atlantic Canada can travel within the four provinces without the requirement to self-isolate provided they haven’t travelled outside Atlantic Canada in the previous 14 days, as per the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Visitors from the rest of Canada must follow local entry requirements regarding self-isolation (as of July 3)

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.

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Newfoundland and Labrador

Name: A Foundation for Living with Covid-19

Current status: Alert Level 2, as of June 25

What reopens:

Gatherings: Limited to 50 or fewer for gatherings, including family barbecues and those in public spaces, such as funerals, burials etc. (Wakes remain prohibited)

Self-isolation after interprovincial travel: Yes

What’s next: Alert Level 1 (TBD)

What’s on the reopening schedule:

• Atlantic Travel Bubble: Residents of Atlantic Canada can travel within the four provinces without the requirement to self-isolate provided they haven’t travelled outside Atlantic Canada in the previous 14 days, as per the Council of Atlantic Premiers. Visitors from the rest of Canada must follow local entry requirements regarding self-isolation (as of July 3)

Here’s the main provincial COVID-19 site.