A bunch of kids who are Canadian citizens have been barred from entering their country after an overseas trip because the ArriveCan app glitched. I’m stunned that nobody in Canada has even tried to question the new policy that bars citizens from entering their own country without an app.

I’m also stunned that the government of Canada has farmed off its border control functions to commercial airlines and nobody has a word of protest to say about this. The airline personnel doesn’t follow the complexities of Canada’s Byzantine and ever-changing border control policies. As a result, they err on the side of caution and demand COVID tests when the Canadian government doesn’t. This happened to me. An American Airlines worker – who is probably not a citizen of Canada – tried to refuse to let me, a citizen, board, because she creatively (and incorrectly) interpreted the Canadian border policies.

As usual, even more than the policy itself, it’s the bovine indifference of the citizens to this plunder that gets to me.