(Washington) Southbound lanes on North America’s post-pandemic recovery route will finally reopen Monday as the United States ends nearly 20 months of controversial exile due to COVID-19 and allow fully vaccinated travelers to cross the Canada-U.S. land border.
From midnight, non-essential travel will resume back and forth for the first time since March 2020, when the two countries imposed sweeping, but selective health measures in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus – the first widespread shutdown of the border since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 20 years ago.
After nearly two years, however, the excitement isn’t exactly palpable.
“We’re on the other side hopefully, but if the border were to close again they really have to realize that families are essential,” said Kim Patchett, who lives with her husband Barry in Saugeen Shores, in Ontario, west of Owen Sound on the shores of Lake Huron.
Traveling to Philadelphia to visit daughter Kaity, American son-in-law Jesse, and three-year-old granddaughter Ilsa – which used to be routine, costing just $ 80 to fill up on diesel – was a big deal. expensive and frustrating adventure since the measures were imposed.
The couple have made the trip twice, including once by plane last Christmas, and then again in September for Ilsa’s third birthday. For this trip, they rented a helicopter to cross the border and a car transport service to deliver their SUVs to American soil before driving the rest of the way.
Then there is the Canadian requirement that all travelers submit the results of a recent PCR test to prove they are not sick, an expense that in Canada can range from $ 150 to $ 300 per person.
All in all, Mme Patchett estimates that they spent $ 6,000 on trips that would normally only cost them $ 320.
“We were there to be able to lend a hand, to give a real personal hug, you know?” To just sit and listen or to play, and you can’t do these things on FaceTime. ”
They will travel again for American Thanksgiving later this month, when – under current rules – they will have to spend an additional $ 500 on testing in order to re-enter Canada.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Mme Patchett.
“Do you want to hug your children? Do you want to put your grandchildren to bed? Do you want to sit and do a puzzle on the floor with them, run around the house and make a lot of noise? These are things that have been taken from us. ”
Ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joelle Deslippe, who lives in Windsor, Ont., Bought a vacation home in Michigan as a meeting place halfway through so she didn’t have to make the full commute from five hours when she wanted to visit her family in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
This chalet, which is in a state of partial renovation, has remained largely unattended and exposed to Mother Nature – and Mme Deslippe is terrified to think of what she might find out when she finally gets back to it.
“I’m really scared to go back and see how many more repairs we’re going to have to do now,” she said. It’s been 20 months of anxiety. ”
Mmy Patchett and Deslippe are both members of “Families are Essential,” one of the many activist groups that have sprung up on social media during the pandemic as it became clear that the restrictions land borders were not going away anytime soon.
Their cause evolved rapidly. It initially targeted both Washington and the federal government in Ottawa, then primarily targeted the White House and members of Congress when Canada resumed allowing fully vaccinated visitors in August.
In its heyday, members carried out scathing letter-writing campaigns, a deluge of social media accounts and even group-sponsored “attack ads” that compared the measures to the hostage crisis in Iran.
As soon as the United States announced that fully vaccinated travelers would be allowed to cross the land border with a single proof of vaccination to accompany their passports, attention shifted again – this time to the molecular test of COVID-19 that Canada still demands.
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr.D Theresa Tam said on Friday that Ottawa was well aware of the drawbacks and that “we are looking at this very carefully.” The Canada Border Services Agency, however, recalled at the same time that the tests remain necessary.
Not only does the expense discourage people from traveling, it’s a doomed measure that does little to improve public safety, said Perrin Beatty, a former federal minister who is now president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. .
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Beatty said in an interview.
He pointed to the federal government’s own rule that if a trip to the United States lasts less than 72 hours, travelers can take their test in Canada before leaving and present the same results when they return home.
“Who is protected by this? All of this is wasting money and wasting people time. ”
It also creates what Beatty calls “rubs” along a border where people are supposed to be able to cross freely, “but where the cost and administrative hassle are so great that people just give up.”
“The frictions have essentially meant that the gains that the Canadian tourism sector hoped to achieve when Canada opened its borders to people coming north simply never materialized,” he said.
New York Congressman Brian Higgins, one of the early advocates for easing measures once COVID-19 vaccines become widely available, will hold a press conference on Monday alongside mayors and leaders communities on both sides of the border to urge Canada to drop the requirement.
However, not everyone who plans to take advantage of the new rules is complaining.
Throughout the pandemic, Betty Chaborek, who also lives in Windsor, watched longingly for months as long lines of tractor-trailer trucks meander across the land border via the Ambassador Bridge. Trade and business activity has been allowed to continue from the start.
Mme Chaborek used to travel to Michigan to visit his daughter, son-in-law and their two children almost every weekend before the onset of the global health crisis.
As she prepares for the trip next Friday, she said she “looks forward” to reconnecting with a long-standing family tradition.
“I’m very, very excited to go,” said Mme Chaborek during a telephone interview. Now I wonder if we should be talking about having (American) Thanksgiving early there. ”
With information from Noushin Ziafati in Toronto