Point Roberts ‘living under the equivalent of house arrest,’ during border closure
Despite being “perhaps the safest community in the U.S. with respect to COVID-19,” Whatcom County Fire District 5 Chief Christopher Carleton says that Point Roberts citizens are “living under the equivalent of house arrest,” in a letter imploring U.S. and Canadian officials to find a way to ease the border closure to non-essential travel.
The letter — a copy of which was emailed to The Bellingham Herald — was sent to U.S. President Donald Trump, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate bodies and similar officials in Canada, as well as to Washington state and Whatcom County elected officials on Monday, July 20.
“I ask that the U.S. and Canada take unparalleled efforts to realize our community’s expanded predicament and help us forge ideas to safely reconcile our pressing needs for open transit through Canada, balanced with the demands of our current emergency state,” Carleton wrote in the letter.
Located in the northwest corner of Whatcom County, Point Roberts is isolated from the mainland of the United States on the tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula that dips below the 49th parallel, which was established as the border between the U.S. and Canada in an 1846 treaty. Approximately 1,000 American citizens live in Point Roberts full time, Carleton said, along with another 4,000 part-time residents who are both American and Canadian citizens.
The most common mode Point Roberts citizens use to get to the mainland United States is to travel by car through Canada 20 miles between Blaine and the peninsula, twice crossing the international border.
“Citizens of Point Roberts and British Columbia have always enjoyed relatively free transit and trade, but citizens of Point Roberts are particularly dependent on unimpeded transit through Canada for everything from advanced health care to basic services that are not duplicated in our small community,” Carleton wrote. “The economy of Point Roberts is strongly dependent on international influx as an indispensable element of commerce.”
When the U.S. and Canada agreed to close the border to non-essential travel between the two countries on March 21 in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic from outside their boundaries — an agreement that since has been extended multiple times to Aug. 21 — Point Roberts was essentially made an island for most residents with their only option to leave either by boat or by plane.
That isolation, Carleton wrote, has meant that the residents of Point Roberts are “suffering disproportionately.”
Point Roberts resident John Beal started a change.org petition in late May requesting the list of “essential reasons to cross the border” during the COVID-19 crisis be expanded for residents.
British Columbians who own Whatcom County property in Point Roberts also have petitioned for an exemption to cross the border so they can check on their houses, boats and even some animals.
The restrictions are in place despite the fact that Point Roberts has no positive COVID-19 tests within the community, Carleton wrote. The fire department has partnered with the local clinic to provide testing, and Carleton reported that half the permanent residents have been tested.
“We intend to continue this effort as long as may be necessary, as well as to aggressively pursue any and all public health measures made available to us to ensure that we maintain the safety of our community throughout the crisis,” Carleton wrote.
But Carleton wrote that he would also like to see the U.S. and Canadian governments find a way for U.S. citizens, dual citizens and green card holders of Point Roberts to commute freely and safely to the U.S. mainland. He also asked that Canadian citizens who own property in Point Roberts be granted access to the community.
“It is incumbent on us to find unprecedented solutions to navigate this time in our history by working together and maintaining our respect and basic values as people to one another,” Carleton wrote.
Easing border restrictions
Carleton is not the only one calling for the U.S. and Canada to begin working to find solutions to the border restrictions.
In a statement Tuesday, July 21, the Future Borders Coalition, a bi-national group of organizations interested in advancing efficiency and security along the U.S.-Canadian border, proposed four principals for easing border restrictions:
▪ Adopting a bi-national and coordinated approach between the two countries.
▪ Applying a layered, risk-based approach whenever border authorities review entry requirements.
▪ Implementing a phased approach based on science and easy-to-understand criteria.
▪ Assessing the economic impact of the extension of the border closure.
The coalition also proposed establishing a joint task force to review and help set protocols for easing border restrictions.
“The U.S.-Canada border has been closed to non-essential travel since mid-March so there is an urgency to begin working on what is the best approach for easing travel restrictions going forward,” Executive Director and Co-Chair of the Future Borders Coalition Gerry Bruno said in the release. “We need to find a way to reconcile public health imperatives with the social need to speed up economic recovery.”
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 10:48 AM.
