A bridge too far for Niagara woman
For St. Catharines resident Kathleen Kevins, whose boyfriend lives just across the border in Tonawanda, N.Y., 50 per cent is at least better than zero.
Kevins said she’s “very happy” the Canadian government announced Monday the country’s land border will open to fully vaccinated U.S. citizens Aug. 9.
But she’s “disappointed” the U.S. land border will remain closed to non-essential travel until at least Aug. 21. The American government announced Wednesday while vaccination rates have improved, opening its land border to discretionary travel still poses too high a risk.
“I’m disappointed in the fact that the U.S. hasn’t reciprocated, considering the fact that they’ve been wanting us to open up for quite a while now,” said Kevins.
Until recently, Kevins had only once (through a travel exemption) seen Moran since the pandemic began and the border between the two countries closed to non-essential travel in March 2020.
Unsure of when news about a wider reopening of the border would come, Kevins said she booked a flight to the U.S. for July 1 just so she could see her partner again.
“I am here (in western New York) right now. I was able to fly. Unfortunately, I had to drive to Toronto and get on a plane and go to Chicago and change planes and go back — a fourand-a-half-hour flight, instead of a half-hour drive, but I was able to do it,” she said.
While that was difficult enough, she was angrier, “I had to pay $250 (in addition to a plane ticket) for a negative COVID test before they would allow me on the plane.
“I get that if you’re not vaccinated, but if you’re vaccinated you should not have to be going out of pocket and getting a test before you’re allowed to leave,”
said Kevins, who is fully vaccinated.
She said while her boyfriend, who is also fully vaccinated, will soon be able to make the short drive to this side of the border, she hopes it will not be “more complicated than it should be.”
“They’re saying fully vaccinated people are welcome to come to Canada, and show proof, which is good, but why are they asking for proof of a negative test prior to coming to the border?” said Kevins. “That, I think, is just adding more complications to the whole thing. I think having to provide a negative COVID test is a little over the top considering that we’re fully vaccinated.”
Niagara-on-the-lake Lord Mayor Betty Disero, one of three mayors in the region with border crossings, said she’s glad the U.S. is taking a cautious approach to reopening.
“With the (COVID-19) numbers climbing in the States, I think, for me anyways, I’d like to see what happens once we open our borders to the Americans to come here,” she said. “It’s good that they have to be double vaccinated, but I worry a little about Canadians going into the United States when their numbers are climbing.”
Fort Erie Mayor Wayne Redekop said along with being cautious, the U.S. government must consider not just its land border crossings with Canada, but also with Mexico, which creates logistical issues.
“Anybody crossing the border either way, whenever that becomes possible, are going to be people who are fully vaccinated, so the risk that they pose to the population on the other side of the border isn’t going to really be significant,” he said.
“There was a lot of noise made by the American elected officials — congressmen, senators, chambers of commerce — to get Canada to move. I think that it’s been a very prudent plan put forward by the federal government here and yet they can’t get their own federal government to move forward.”
Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said it was initially surprising the decision to reopen the land border to Canada was not made in concert with crossings into the U.S., but that he believes America’s situation with Mexico is an issue.
“They want to treat all the borders equally, and they don’t want to show preferential treatment,” he said. “It does give us a slight advantage because Americans will be able to bring their leisure dollars into Canada. (About) 50 per cent of their population are vaccinated, so definitely it’s going to give us a little bit of a leg up, and I’m sure they won’t be far behind. I’m sure you’ll see a renewed focus on getting things opened from their end as well.”