Canadian immigration agency issues warning to families ready for cross-border reunions
Though extended family members who have been separated by a closed border between the U.S. and Canada since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic can now begin reuniting, don’t make travel plans until all the Ts have been crossed and the Is have been dotted and be prepared to quarantine.
Immigration and Refugees and Citizenship Canada issued that warning via Twitter Friday morning, Oct. 9, along with news that extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents can now seek permission to travel to Canada.
“This includes people in a long-term exclusive dating relationship and their dependent children, adult children, grandchildren, siblings and grandpartents,” the tweet read. “Examples of extended family members in exclusive dating relationships include fiancé(e)s, romantic partners, boyfriends, girlfriends or any other couple in an intimate, loving relationship of at least this year.”
Students studying in Canada also are now allowed entry.
But before you start booking non-refundable plane tickets or even packing up the car for a drive to British Columbia, the tweet warned that extended family members need to “meet all requirements and get all necessary authorizations.”
Immigration and Refugees and Citizenship Canada also reminded travelers that they must have plans to quarantine for 14 days once they arrive in Canada.
Complete information about the new regulations and who and who is not allowed to cross into Canada now is available at canada.ca.
The border between the two countries has been closed to non-essential travel since March 21 in an effort to help slow the spread of COVID-19 between the neighbors. The closure, initially set to last a month, has been extended six times.
The latest closure was announced Sept. 18 and extends through Oct. 21.
Non-essential travel
Unfortunately, the news is not as good for the rest of us that don’t have an essential reason for heading to Canada or family there.
Canada Border Services Agency even tried to make light of the situation in a twitter reminder Wednesday, Oct. 7, asking “Why did the turkey cross the border?”
“It didn’t: Remember, travel restrictions are still in place for the Thanksgiving long weekend to help stop the spread of #COVID19 and keep Canadians safe,” the tweet went on to read. Canadian Thanksgiving is Monday, Oct. 12.
Unfortunately, it looks unlikely the border will not open anytime soon, according to a story Friday by Canada Immigration News.
“The situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rapidly evolve and we have been clear that our response will adapt in lockstep,” a spokesperson for Canada’s public safety minister said according to Canada Immigration News. “Going forward, we will continue to evaluate the best public health information available to us to make a decision on when and how to reopen our border.”
Immigration from the United States is already taking a heavy hit, according to the story, the number of Americans making Canada their permanent residence in the first six months of dropped 24% from 5,095 in 2019 to 3,870 this year.
Most Americans agree
According to a story published Sept. 29 by yougov.com, a survey of 46,000 Americans found that 54% said that the border crossing with Canada should remain closed to non-essential travel.
Only 27% said the border should reopen, while 19% said they didn’t know, according to the story.
Only three of the 13 states that border Canada — Alaska (37%), New York (33%) and Idaho (33%) — had a higher percentage of respondents wanting to see the border reopened than the national average, yougov.com reported.
Previous surveys of Canadians show even more support to keep the border closed. The Toronto Globe and and Mail reported in July that a Nanos Research survey asked Canadian residents if they felt the border should open to non-essential travel or if they would prefer to see it stay closed for the foreseeable future.
Of those polled, 81% said the border should stay closed, 14% said it should open now for areas where transmission rates are low and 3% said it should open immediately, with 2% saying they were unsure.
B.C. update
Unfortunately, the numbers on both sides of the border do not signal a reopening coming anytime soon.
According to the British Columbia COVID-19 dashboard, the province has seen 10,066 total cases during the pandemic and 245 confirmed deaths as of Thursday, Oct. 8 — an increase of 2,403 cases and 25 deaths since Sept. 17. It also shows that the number of daily cases has dramatically increased since mid-August and the total number of active cases in the province is 1,394.
More than half of the total cases (5,174) are in the Frasier Health Authority, which borders Whatcom County. The Vancouver Coastal Health Authority accounts for 3,693 cases.
With a population of approximately 5.1 million, British Columbia is averaging 197.4 cases and 4.8 related deaths per 100,000 residents over the course of the pandemic.
For comparison, the Washington State Department of Health reported 91,918 confirmed cases and 2,183 related deaths on Thursday — an increase of 10,720 cases and 152 deaths since Sept. 17. With a population of approximately 7.5 million, the state is averaging 1,225.6 cases and 29.1 deaths per 100,000.
Rejected at the border
Even though it’s been nearly seven months since the border closed to non-essential traffic, not everybody is getting the hint.
According to Canadian Border Services Agency data reported Thursday by CTV News, 3,441 travelers from the U.S. were rejected attempting to enter Canada for non-essential reasons in September.
Since the border closed in March, 22,414 foreign nationals have been rejected by Canada at land, air or waterway ports of call — 87% of them from the U.S., according to the story. Sightseeing and shopping were the main reasons given that were not good enough to gain entry.
Travel volume as a whole between Sept. 28 and Oct. 4 was down 92% from the same period in 2019, according to the story, as the border agency reported 54,934 travelers during that week — 66% of whom were Canadian.
Americans are allowed to drive through Canada to and from Alaska, but they must be authorized to do so and are required to take a direct route to minimize contact with Canadians.
In August, six Americans in two separate incidents were issued tickets totaling $4,500 in fines for diverting off course, a CBC story Sunday reported. In one case, the Royal Canadian Police had to escort a family of five out of the country, though the RCMP said the vast majority of Americans are following the rules.
“There are individuals who are continuing not to follow the rules,” B.C. RCMP spokesperson Janelle Shoihet told CBC. “Those rules are put in place in order to protect everybody.”
Economic impact
Whatcom County is certainly feeling the economic impact of the border closure after nearly seven months.
The Western Washington University Border Policy Research Institute has found that Canadians comprise approximately 75% of cross-border travelers to and from Whatcom County, depending on the exchange rate when the border is open, according to information Director Laurie Trautman emailed to The Bellingham Herald for an earlier story.
In 2018, that would have represented approximately 10.5 million southbound Canadian travelers through the Blaine, Lynden, Sumas and Point Roberts points of entry.
Those Canadians represent a large portion of consumers in Whatcom County — anywhere from 2% to 46% of the weekend customer base Whatcom County retailers see, Trautman reported, adding that the average is about 17%.
Essential travel between the two countries is still allowed, though, and that includes transportation of freight.
According to U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics published Sept. 23, $91 billion in transborder freight was transported between the U.S. borders with Canada and Mexico in July — that was up 10.9% from June and 62.2% from May 2020, but still down 11.2% from July 2019.
Trucks hauled $26.2 billion worth of freight between the U.S. and Canada in July, according to the transportation statistics — up 3.2% from June but down 4.5% from July 2019. Trains hauled another $6.4 billion between the U.S. and Canada — up 12.4% from June but down 17.6% from a year earlier.
July saw the second-largest monthly gain in freight hauled across U.S. borders so far in 2020, according to trucking magazine LandLine.com.
Canada to sell safety record
Once the border does reopen, Canada is planning to showcase its safety record and capitalize on its more conservative approach to fighting the pandemic, according to a Bloomberg story Thursday.
The hope is that that can help make up for the impact the pandemic has had on Canada’s tourism industry, which was down approximately 66%, or $5.3 billion, in the second quarter, Bloomberg reported.
“What we want to do is really to position Canada as a safe country once this pandemic ends,” Economic Development Minister Melanie Joly told Bloomberg. “I think that can be really our competitive edge because following the pandemic we will need to build trust within the industry in Canada.”
This story was originally published October 10, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
