Point Roberts looking forward to end of ‘inhumane, unnecessary’ border closure

POINT ROBERTS (NEWS 1130) — News that the U.S. is set to reopen the land border with Canada is being met with relief in Point Roberts, but the 19-month closure isn’t something the community will easily recover from — or soon forget.

On Tuesday, a US Congressman from New York State issued a statement saying the non-essential travel across the line will reopen in November for the first time since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March of 2020. The White House has not confirmed the move, and details are scarce, but proof of vaccination will be required. Canada opened its land border to fully vaccinated Americans in the summer.

The Washington exclave of Point Roberts has a population of just over 1,000. Seventy-five per cent of properties are owned by Canadians, and the majority of residents are dual citizens.

Brian Calder with the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce is reluctant to celebrate until it’s official.

“Every light at the end of the tunnel that we’ve seen in the past has been another freight train,” he says, estimating 90 per cent of the economic activity in the community is driven by Canadians.

“Those businesses have been deprived of that economic activity for two summers, and they can’t survive, you can’t do it.”

"We would welcome it. We've been calling for it for months so Canadians can come back to their homes". It's the light at the end of the tunnel for Brian Calder, Chair and President of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce who is excited for the border reopening @NEWS1130 #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/QGyy5agVOm

— Tarnjit Kaur Parmar (@Tarnjitkparmar) October 13, 2021

Calder and others have been campaigning to get an exemption to the land-border closure for more than a year, with frustration growing amid different rules for air travel, and reaching a crescendo as Canada lifted its restrictions on non-essential travel from the U.S.

“There’s about 1800 homes here that have been ignored for 18 months, and that’s inhumane and unnecessary,” Calder says.

“Canadians who’ve been deprived of any access to come down here and take care of their properties, they still have to pay taxes, power, water bills, and so forth, and they can’t come and see it — unless they fly. But they can’t drive through safely ensconced in their car? I mean some of the rules have been absolutely beyond the pale. Hopefully they’re smartening up about it.”

With vaccination rates over 85 per cent, Calder says there’s never been a public health argument for preventing travel to and from Point Roberts.

“We mask to this day even though we’ve been vaccinated. We’re not a threat to anybody. We’re not stupid,” he says.

RELATED: Point Roberts’ only grocery store on verge of closure amid ongoing border restrictions

The particular struggle of this small community is something Calder says people watching from afar can easily dismiss, but he says anytone who visits understands immediately how crucial cross-border travel in both directions actually is.

“What we needed, all these 18 months — even from the people in the county — is to come over and see it firsthand. We’re not lying, we’re telling you the truth about this little place,” he says.

“We’re isolated. We got nothing. Except Delta. Then they locked down the border, then we didn’t have Delta, so we had nothing.”

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