What was the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada?

The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada was a respiratory-disease pandemic that struck Canada from March 2020 to early 2022 caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Canada recorded about 4.7 million confirmed cases and 53,000 deaths by 2024, with extensive public health measures including border closures, lockdowns, vaccination mandates, and economic support including the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Canada Recovery Benefit. The pandemic was the largest public-health crisis in Canada since the Spanish flu of 1918 to 1920.

The first Canadian COVID-19 case was reported on January 25, 2020 in Toronto. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization had declared the global pandemic. Canadian provinces closed schools in mid-March 2020. The federal-US border was closed to non-essential travel on March 21, 2020 and remained mostly closed until summer 2021 (the longest closure of the world's longest international border). Indoor gathering restrictions, mask mandates, and lockdowns varied across provinces and over time. Long-term care facilities suffered particularly heavy tolls; about 80 per cent of early-pandemic Canadian COVID-19 deaths were among long-term care residents.

The federal economic response was extensive. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) of March 25, 2020 provided 2,000 dollars per month to about 8.9 million Canadians who had lost employment income due to COVID-19, totalling about 82 billion dollars before being replaced by the Canada Recovery Benefit and other programmes in October 2020. The Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy supported about 5.3 million workers through about 100 billion dollars in payroll subsidies. Federal deficits reached about 327 billion dollars in 2020 to 2021 (about 14 per cent of GDP, the largest peacetime deficit in Canadian history). Total federal pandemic spending exceeded 600 billion dollars over three fiscal years.

The vaccine response was rapid. Health Canada approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on December 9, 2020 (the first Western country to do so). Canada eventually delivered more than 90 million doses by the end of 2021. By March 2022, about 87 per cent of Canadians aged 5 and older had received at least two doses, one of the highest vaccination rates in the G7. Vaccine mandates for federal employees, domestic air and rail travel, and entry to many businesses were widely implemented from autumn 2021. The Omicron variant wave of December 2021 to February 2022 produced the highest case counts but lower hospitalisation and death rates than earlier waves due to vaccination. Most pandemic restrictions were lifted by spring 2022. The federal Public Health Agency of Canada continues monitoring; subsequent COVID-19 waves (Omicron BA.5, XBB.1.5, BA.2.86, JN.1) have produced additional cases but at lower severity. The pandemic has produced lasting changes in remote work, public health infrastructure, and federal-provincial health relationships.