Announced earlier this week, the federal government will be lifting currently existing COVID regulations for people traveling to Canada.

Some of the changes include an end to mandatory masks on flights and trains, mandatory vaccination, and randomized testing of people entering the country.

That will apply to people coming in through the country through the land, air, and sea, with all sectors dropping the regulations.

CBSA Corporate Chief for the Southern Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta district Scott Kienlen says the change is coming at the end of the month.

"Well, the government of Canada will be removing all COVID-19 border measures effective October 1st. Travelers no longer will have to submit their health information or their proof of vaccination into the ArriveCan app as of that date at 12:01 eastern time."

Regulations have been coming off of crossings for a while, with the border opening up to vaccinated travelers, to no longer need a test to travel, and this latest update may be the final one.

Kienlen says that after all of these changes, they've seen an uptick in people coming over the border, so a surge of activity is in the cards.

"With every instance where there was a border restriction easing, we did notice that traffic did increase and we're expecting traffic will increase with this as well, likely to what pre-COVID volumes were. It's hard to speculate as to what exactly that will be, but we're anticipating there will be an increase."

Though the ArriveCan app will no longer be used at land border crossings, some limited use will still remain as it'll be an optional app at some limited airports, namely those in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

While Canada's rules have changed at the land border, America has not yet updated any rules for crossing the border - Kienlen recommends people look online to see what those are before they travel.

He also reminds people to have all proper documentation in order before crossing the border and to have receipts ready for items purchased over the border.

As well, travelers are not to bring back rare poultry products from states which have had avian influenza outbreaks, which includes North Dakota, Montana, and Minnesota.