Nunavik travel

Nunavik Travel

Current travel restrictions:

Communities alert levels:

Limited Access to Screening Tests in the South

Travelers to Nunavik must be screened 48 to 72 hours prior to their departure. In the meantime, new restrictions are limiting the access to screening tests. However, people from First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities and people who travel to Indigenous communities for work are prioritized to access screening tests. 

How to proceed to book an appointment? 

  • If you are in Montreal, please book an appointment at the Nunavik Travellers Clinic. (Refer to: Step 3: Screening for COVID-19 before departure)
  • If you are elsewhere in Quebec, please book an appointment at a screening center stating that you are going to an Inuit community located in a remote region of Quebec. 
  • If you are having trouble booking an appointment, please contact the Info-COVID line (1-888-662-7482)

Inter-Community Travel in Nunavik

Only essential travel is authorized

  • It is the responsibility of Nunavik organizations to assess the relevance of travel for their employees, consultants or contractors. If you are a worker, please refer to your employer.
  • People whose scheduled flight is not funded by an organization must apply for a travel authorization by completing the form: https://forms.office.com/r/cr56c0K0bc  or by contacting: covid-lockdown.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca*. The authorization form must be submitted at least 72 hours prior to the date you want to travel. 
  • People traveling by charter flight must send their request for a travel authorization to the usual address: covid-charter.flights.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca.
  • The Nunavik territory access authorization request process (AATN) continues to apply for travel from outside Nunavik. Visit https://ntaa.nrbhss.ca/ntaa

* Please refrain from sending multiple emails for the same travel request. Your request will be addressed as soon as possible.

Instructions for travel to Nunavik from the South

Step 1: Travel Authorization & Quarantine plan
Step 2: Quarantine
Step 3: Screening for COVID-19 before departure
Step 4: Pre-boarding questionnaire
Step 5: 2nd COVID-19 screening

 


Step 1: Travel Authorization & Quarantine plan

To allow assessment of your admissibility, please fill the questionnaire below.  The questionnaire can be filled as soon as your reservation is made, as long as your plan for quarantine is known.  To allow analysis, it must be filled 72 hours or more BEFORE your departure.

https://ntaa.nrbhss.ca/ntaa

An authorization to access the territory of Nunavik (NTAA/AATN) will be sent to you by email following the analysis of your questionnaire.

  • If you do not have internet access, contact Nunavik COVID-19 INFO-HEALTH line at 1-888-662-7482 to fill out your questionnaire and obtain your authorization to access the territory of Nunavik (NTAA/AATN).
     
  • For any other information concerning your trip, contact: covid-travel.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca


Step 2: Quarantine

Given that quarantine is the most effective method to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the obligation to quarantine applies to all travellers according to their individual protection. Quarantine may be carried out in the South or in the North (or a combination of both). Quarantine must be for an uninterrupted period of 10 days, apart from the day of travel to Nunavik.

Those who received their full vaccination series and a booster dose, will be considered protected and will benefit from a relief of the entry management program measures:

  • Travellers to Nunavik who are protected against COVID-19 will not have to comply with a quarantine.
  • Travellers who are unprotected against COVID-19 (those who has not completed the vaccination series and the booster) will have their quarantine time reduced to 10 days.

  • Protected travellers should take certain protective measures during the first 10 days of arrival in the area;

    • masks should be worn by all in workplaces and businesses;
    • masks should be worn and the 2m distance should be respected by travellers if they are visiting relatives or friends or if people who do not live with them are visiting their home within 10 days of arrival.
    • It is recommended that travellers not attend large gatherings within 10 days of arrival in the area. Selfmonitoring of symptoms until day 14 of arrival is recommended and anyone with symptoms related to COVID-19 should consult.
  • Quarantine: instructions to follow
  • Quarantine instructions for people travelling to nunavik due to exceptional circumstances
  • Quarantine instructions for critical workers
  • List of essential services


Step 3: Screening for COVID-19 before departure

Travelling with Children

Children 1 year and older must be screened to travel to Nunavik. If you have any difficulties with your child's screening, please contact the Nunavik Traveller’s Clinic.

Note that a negative result of a test performed within 72 hours of departure is mandatory for all travellers aged 1 year and older and proof must be presented upon boarding.  If there is a delay in receiving the results of a test done between 48 to 72 hours before departure, travellers who have a vaccine passport (i.e. 2 doses of vaccination or the equivalent) will be provided self-tests and allowed to perform a rapid self-test at the airport. If that result is negative they will be allowed to travel. Those travellers will still need to remain in quarantine until the moment they receive their result from the clinic test done prior to travel and this is without consideration of the protection status (i.e. even people with 3 doses of vaccine need to wait for that quality lab-based test result). This exception does not apply to travellers who do not have a vaccine passport since they need to have a test result prior to flying as per Federal Directives.

Screening can be done at the Nunavik traveller’s Clinic (NTC) or at a COVID-19 walk-in testing centres in your region or any other recognized screening clinic. However, it is suggested that you get tested at the NTC to facilitate the transmission of your results.

For more information, visit: https://nrbhss.ca/en/screening.

The Nunavik travelers clinic is located at:

819 McCaffrey, Ville Saint-Laurent, Qc, H4T 1N3
You must make an appointment:
Call 1-514-341-8888 or 1-833-341-3888 (toll-free)
or by email: rdv-ntc.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca

For charter flights, proof of the negative results for a COVID-19 test and a list of passengers must be sent to covid-charter.flights.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca before 3:00 pm on the day before the flight. This step is essential for the authorization of the charter flight, please contact covid-charter.flights.nrbhss@ssss.gouv.qc.ca at least 3 days before the flight to confirm the protocol in place.


Step 4: Pre-boarding questionnaire

On the day of the flight, you will be asked to complete a health questionnaire with the regional staff on site or a counter agent. Individuals with symptoms of COVID-19 and those who are in isolation -due to a close contact or a confirmed case of COVID-19 will not be permitted to board.


Step 5: 2 ndCOVID-19 screening

Note that a second COVID-19 screening is now required for all travelers coming from the south on the 5thday following their arrival. It is the traveler’s responsibility to make an appointment with the CLSC in their community.

  • For travellers with a short stay of less than 5 days in Nunavik, the second screening will have to be done the day before departure from the region by contacting the CLSC of their community to make an appointment. Note that travellers staying less than 72 hours are not required to undergo the second screening.
How to use rapid tests:
For people travelling to Whapmagoostui and going through Kuujjuaraapik:
The established measures aim to limit the spread of COVID-19 on the Nunavik territory. On behalf of all Nunavimmiut, we thank you for your collaboration.