'We get our hopes up every single month': Optimism and doubt as border restrictions revisited
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. -
It’s a wait-and-see game Alicia Weeks is tired of playing.
"We get our hopes every single month," says Weeks, speaking about Canada/U.S. border restrictions which have been renewed 15 times since March 2020. "You lose hope after so long."
The latest restrictions will expire and be revisited, once again, on July 21 by Canadian and U.S. federal officials.
Weeks, who owns a retail shop near the downtown St. Stephen border crossing, has a personal stake in the border rules.
"Half of my family is over there,” says Weeks, motioning toward Calais, Maine. "A number of us have our family just minutes away from us but we haven’t been able to see them."
Canada loosened some border restrictions on July 5 but travel considered non-essential is still banned.
"It’s just been really hard that family hasn’t been considered essential," says Weeks.
Pressure is growing on both sides of the border to eliminate more restrictions next week.
A coalition of stateside lawmakers has made a formal request for fully vaccinated travellers to be able to freely cross the Canada/U.S. border.
Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted at a slow step-by-step process for easing border measures.
"So taking it methodically and responsibly is the way we’re going to first and foremost continue to keep Canadians safe," Trudeau said on June 8 in Coquitlam, B.C.
INTERNATIONAL HOMECOMING FESTIVAL WILL GO AHEAD
Organizers of the International Homecoming Festival between St. Stephen and Calais say events will be held in both communities Aug. 5 to 8, regardless of the border status. The event will include a fireworks show over the St. Croix River visible from both countries.
If border restrictions are lifted, festival co-organizer Michelle Vest says the traditional opening ‘Hands Across The Border’ ceremony will occur.
"The Americans are on their side, the Canadians are on ours, we all walk to the middle of (the Ferry Point Bridge) where the international boundary line is and it’s just as it sounds, we extend our hands across the border,' says Vest.
"This year maybe it will be elbow bumps."
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