Mount Allison has sent out a letter to students asking anyone leaving the Atlantic bubble over the December break to register their isolation plans with the university.
The last classes of the year for Mount Allison students will take place December 2, 2020, and the last exams will be written December 12, 2020. Then there’s an extended winter break running until classes begin again on January 18, 2021.
In the letter, Director of Marketing and Communications Robert Hiscock informs students of a new provincial government requirement for a Letter of Acknowledgment from their university as they re-enter New Brunswick.
The rule applies only if students have left Atlantic Canada during the five-week-long break.
Hiscock says students may need to present the letter, as well as a self-isolation plan, to the New Brunswick Department of Public Safety or Canadian Border Security officers upon entry to the province.
Coreen Enos, a spokesperson for New Brunswick Public Safety, says that students will also need to register with New Brunswick’s travel registration program, along with anyone else entering New Brunswick from outside Atlantic Canada.
Enos recommends students register at least five business days before their scheduled date of return.
Of course, there are no longer border control officers at the Aulac border, so students and travellers will have no-one to show their registration documents to as they cross the border. But Enos says information from the registration forms is being collected to support New Brunswick Public Health.
In his letter, Robert Hiscock says that Mount Allison is, “required by federal and provincial regulations to check in regularly with students during their 14-day self-isolation period.”
Enos says the province does not require the school to check in on students, though it is possible that Mount Allison’s operational plan calls for it.
Enos says the province does regularly contact travellers who have been directed to self-isolate. Either an automated calling system or an agent will call returned travellers during their 14-day isolation to complete a health screening and attest that they are complying with the self-isolation order.
For some students, the five-week-long break will be much shorter. Residence students who are travelling outside the Atlantic bubble are being asked to return to the university on January 1 or 2, so that they can complete self-isolation before others return.
According to Robert Hiscock’s letter, students who are self-isolating off-campus must return to Mount Allison between January 1, 2021 and January 17, 2021.
CHMA has asked if the university will be reopening a Welcome Centre, or re-using the colour-coded bracelet system put in place during the fall, but the university has yet to respond.
A letter of acknowledgment from Mount Allison will certainly benefit those crossing international borders, where the discretion of Canada Border Services agents comes into play.
Before the fall arrival of students, the university had also issued letters to international students confirming that they were required to be in the province to study.
About 12% of Mount Allison’s students are international, coming from over 50 different countries.
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