Editor:
Re: Simple solution to get property owners across line into Port Roberts, letter to the editor, July 16
So, Marlene Espenhain doesn’t feel that Canadian politicians (like her MP Carla Qualtrough) are doing enough to allow her and others access to their properties in Point Roberts during a global pandemic. Apparently, there is also a petition, originated by Kevin McIntosh, which more than 3,000 people have now signed, expressing a similar sentiment.
In her letter, Espenhain suggested there “is a simple solution (to this problem) that has no risk to anyone: Border guards wear PPE. Property owners provide proof of ownership at the border…They must go directly to and from their property with no other stops along the way. This eliminates any risk of spreading COVID-19 to and from anyone.”
In his petition, McIntosh also proposed “a special dispensation allowing Canadians access to their property, boats and animals in Point Roberts, WA to perform maintenance, removal and care functions under controlled conditions, i.e. no contact with local residents for business and pleasure purposes.”
First of all, let’s assume the more than 3,000 people who signed the petition are all Point Roberts property owners. That’s a lot of people. And a lot of potential carriers of a deadly virus. (According to the Washington State Department of Health, as of July 16, there are now 45,067 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state of Washington alone.)
Do either one of these people really expect the rest of us (and Homeland Security and CBSA for that matter) to believe they will be crossing the border, going directly to their property “to perform maintenance” and then coming directly back over the border within the same day?
So, they aren’t going to buy cheap gas, or their favourite snack foods (which they can only find in the U.S.)? They aren’t going to pick up some overdue online shopping parcels that have been piling up at U.S. postal outlets? They aren’t going to have a beer at the local pub? They aren’t going to stop and chat with their American friends and neighbours, whom they haven’t seen in several months?
Are we just supposed to trust that all of them will “do the right thing” and not talk to any American business owners while they are there? Human nature being what it is, I doubt that very much.
Public health officials, on both sides of the border, can’t even get everyone to do one simple thing every day: wear a mask out in public. Not everyone, even those who live in South Delta, does this, on a regular basis.
So many questions come to mind in reference to this issue: How is this “simple solution” going to be implemented, safely and effectively, for the benefit of everyone on both sides of the border?
Who exactly is going to monitor and enforce this? (There aren’t enough border guards, police officers, or CCTV, to watch hundreds of Canadians checking on their Point Roberts assets, at the same time.)
How long is this so-called “property maintenance” supposed to take? One day, one week, one month?
What if some property owners state their purpose is to cross the border to perform maintenance; but their real intention is just to take an extended holiday (in their cabin, on their boat, etc.)?
What is the potential penalty going to be if Canadians don’t comply? Will they be banned from the U.S.?
What if Canadians return home to Canada after performing maintenance on their property in the U.S.? Will all of them be willing to automatically quarantine in their home for 14 days (as per the Quarantine Act) every time they return home, even if they aren’t showing any symptoms of COVID-19? (No grocery shopping, no visiting with family or friends, no going to work outside of the home.)
I do empathize with Canadians who have property in the U.S., to a certain extent. However, the fact of the matter is that one does take a calculated risk every time one travels to, or buys property in, a foreign country. Time in memoriam has shown that dictatorial regimes, armed conflicts, acts of God, and acute diseases can break out overnight, anywhere in the world. (That’s why we are advised to read travel advisories, to get vaccinations and to buy insurance products.)
While North Americans have largely been lucky so far, and most of these things have not directly affected us in our own back yards; it is finally our turn, and we will all just have to deal with the consequences (as others have done before us).
Now is the time to “suck it up”, to put on our “big boy pants”, and to seriously consider the bigger picture: the risk is just too high for a relative number of Canadians to be allowed to travel anywhere in the U.S., for any personal reason, at this particular period in time.
If it weren’t too risky to travel there, for anything but the most “essential travel”, then the Canada-U.S. border would be still be wide open right now. But it is not. Full stop.
A. Cameron
