Interprovincial life in a time of COVID-19
Pandemic changes everything, including unfettered travel
OTTAWA — It was a scene that would have been entirely unremarkable before COVID19 turned the world upside down: sisters Marie-Michèle Clement of Chelsea, Que., and Eloise Clement of Ottawa met up with their kids on a sunny Saturday in Gatineau Park.
But, because the ongoing pandemic has changed everything about the way we live, including previously unfettered travel between Ottawa and Gatineau, it had been more than two months since the sisters and their families had been together. And the gathering of seven, now totally permissible in Quebec, would technically be lawbreaking if held a 25-minute drive down the road and across the provincial border, in Ottawa.
“I just want everyone to be safe,” said Eloise, who added she doesn’t get together with anyone outside her household in Ottawa, where a pandemic emergency order prohibits gatherings of more than five people who don’t already live together.
It’s a predicament facing every resident of the national capital region, where living in one province and spending time in the other is a fact of life that has been seriously complicated by COVID-19.
As of Friday, Quebec allows outdoor gatherings of as many as 10 people from a maximum of three households. In Ontario, only for funerals or drive-in religious services can more than five people get together.
Starting June 1, personalcare services like hair and nail salons can reopen in Quebec, except in Montreal. In Ontario, a similar easing of restrictions has yet to be announced.
Ottawa-Gatineau residents didn’t have to spare much thought for pandemic rules on the other side of the Ottawa River. With checkpoints on local interprovincial bridges, the Quebec government restricted non-essential travel between Ottawa and Gatineau for more than six weeks.
However, those checkpoints have been lifted, and, although officials encourage both Ontarians and Quebecers to stick to their own provinces for the time being, there’s nothing officially preventing national capital region residents from making cross-river trips.
Beyond visiting family and friends or enjoying sights like Gatineau Park, there is at least the possibility that more relaxed pandemic rules in Quebec could lure Ottawans across the bridge for picnics with groups larger than five, haircuts or visits to store that have yet to re-open in Ontario.
“I think we need to be cautious,” Ottawa’s medical officer of health, Dr. Vera Etches, said when asked for her advice to those who might be considering Gatineau sojourns. No matter where you live or where you’re visiting, “the more we come into close contact with others, the greater the risk of transmission.”