Are we too quick to roll up the welcome mat?
As we slowly exit from restrictions, drawing distinctions between ‘us and them’ is unhealthy
After a long spring of hunkering down at home, Montrealers are eager to deconfine and make the best of a summer like no other.
For many, this will mean staycationing or day-tripping. For others, it will mean venturing to destinations they can reach by car.
But even that limited array of activities is being further curtailed by a number of communities, towns and even provinces rolling up the welcome mat.
Westmount and Côte-stluc are barring access to their outdoor municipal pools for outsiders.
The town of Rawdon has closed its popular beaches and waterfalls to all but residents after swarms of urbanites descended on the picturesque Lanaudière community during the heat wave.
And Quebecers are still being stymied in their efforts to reach the Îles de la Madeleine by restrictions on travelling through New Brunswick, forbidding out-of-province residents from sleeping over in motels or eating in restaurants.
The justification for these measures in the case of Westmount and Côte-st-luc is to give locals priority access to a reduced number of slots for swimming due to social distancing regulations. Still, it smacks of unfairness, given facilities are often paid for by multiple orders of government, and other municipalities — be it Montreal or in the West Island — aren’t imposing similar controls.
In the case of Rawdon and New Brunswick, the idea is to keep visitors from transmitting COVID -19 in places where the virus was contained. Again, after everything we’ve been through in the last 3½ months to flatten the curve, this reflex is comprehensible. But it seems out of proportion to the current risk level.
While it’s true that Quebec — and particularly Montreal — was the epicentre of the epidemic in Canada, the number of new diagnoses has dwindled even as many businesses and services have reopened. The fear of mass infections — if social distancing norms are followed — has greatly diminished.
When it comes to New Brunswick’s rules for Quebecers passing through on the way to les Îles, the regulations may be doing more harm than good. One Quebec couple were badly injured after hitting a moose as they drove long distances at night to try to reach the ferry leaving from Prince Edward Island in the morning. Others may also be putting their lives at risk spending hours on the roads without rest.
The Maritimes, especially, are giving off a strong “keep out” vibe. While Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador recently struck a deal to create a bubble allowing residents to circulate freely within those provinces, those who “come from away” are subject to varying limitations, such as 14-day quarantines. Even property-owning seasonal residents have had to seek permission to come to their summer homes.
People visiting small towns and more distant communities should be on their best behaviour. Overwhelming a place, crowding on beaches or in parks, leaving litter behind and failing to socially distance is boorish and rude, whether on Mount Royal or at les chutes de Rawdon. Everyone is skittish. Don’t give the skeptics a reason to batten down the hatches.
But we have to resist the temptation to be suspicious of each other. COVID-19, in some ways, brought out the worst in us. The need to stay two metres away from others and don masks created anxiety and doubt. It stretched the bonds of social trust and pushed us to retreat from even friends and family. Emerging from that inward-looking mindset has been more difficult than expected.
At one point, Montrealers were pariahs, with authorities musing about shutting off access to the island and Quebecers in the regions worried about urbanites bringing the plague.
Lockdowns made us all insular to varying degrees. But drawing distinctions between us and them, those who belong and those who deserve to be excluded, is not healthy. Taken to its worst extreme, it can lead to more damaging types of antipathy, like xenophobia and scapegoating.
While we can’t let our guard down against the virus, we can’t let ourselves be divided, either.
While it’s true that Quebec — and particularly Montreal — was the epicentre of the epidemic in Canada, the number of new diagnoses has dwindled.