After 15 months of ‘bureaucratic malaise,’ Point Roberts residents get relief as border reopens
Nov 5, 2021, 5:19 AM
The Point Roberts boundary marker. (J. Stephen Conn, Flickr Creative Commons)
For the first time since March of 2020, Canadians will be able to cross the border into the United States for non-essential business by car or ferry starting Monday, Nov. 8.
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For Americans who live a stone’s throw from Canada, the long-awaited border reopening has taken too long.
“Unnecessary bureaucratic malaise,” Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce head Brian Calder told KIRO Radio.
“That is our frustration, right there,” added Blaine City Councilmember and business owner Mike Hill.
Both communities have seen a sharp drop-off in Canadian business.
Hill, who owns the first U.S. gas station you come to after crossing the border, puts it this way: “We were pumping 5,000 gallons a day, every day, for the last couple years — the day that border closed, we have not pumped over 500 gallons.”
The situation’s been even more dire in Point Roberts. The Washington state community is surrounded by water on three sides, and the only point of entry by land is through Canada.
“We’ve been through 19 months of lock-up,” Calder said, noting that business has been down by as much as 80%.
They blame national politics on both sides of the border for the slow reopening. And there are still obstacles.
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Canadians will have to prove they’ve been vaccinated to enter the United States, but the bigger challenge may be that they’ll have to show a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours to get back home to Canada.
“That’s $200 a test per person,” Hill pointed out.
Calder calls it one more “soul crushing” hurdle.
They both worry Canadians who used to take day trips into the United States won’t want to bother with the time and expense of a test.
Still, Calder says there is optimism, albeit of the guarded variety.
“We’re sort of at the point where we say we’ll believe it when we physically see it,” he noted.
And if pent up demand suddenly sends them a rush of visitors? Hill says to bring it on.
“I hope this is a problem,” he expressed.
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