What COVID taught us about the border

Most of the time, we’re only aware of the Canada-U.S. border when we roll down our car windows at the customs booth heading home from a holiday, or when we’re standing at an airport kiosk trying to remember if we have anything to declare.

The pandemic changed that. We became much more sensitized to the impact of border closings. Supply chain interruptions drove up grocery prices, and that new washing machine was simply unavailable because of a worldwide shortage of microchips. The global pandemic put the Canada-U.S. relationship to the test and reminded us how important borders really are. Here are some of the big lessons. ■ We are more dependent on the border than most people realize.

When a border closes, there are immediate human and economic costs. Interruptions at the Windsor-Detroit bridge affect 30 per cent of Canada’s surface trade, some $390 million a day. Every minute that trucks cannot roll from one country to the other, jobs are lost, companies falter and consumers pay the cost.

Border communities take the biggest hit. Mayors of border cities such as Niagara Falls have seen tens of thousands of tourism-related jobs disappear, many for good. PreCOVID, Canada would welcome nearly10 million international travellers during a typical summer, a critical source of revenue and jobs. Even with relaxed restrictions, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada estimates that tourism will not fully recover until 2024 at the earliest. And impacts are not confined to the 49th parallel; February’s border interruptions affected Toyota production plants in Kentucky, Alabama and West Virginia.

■ We are more resilient than we think. When impelled by crisis to act, government and industry came together with creative solutions that would not have been thought possible in the “before times.” A joint plan for how to close our common border to discretionary travel — while facilitating essential commerce — took about 72 hours to operationalize. These solutions were not elegant or complete, but quick thinking and bold action on the part of U.S. and Canadian officials kept the border open for food, cargo and essential workers, such as the 1,500 Canadian nurses who cross the border each day to work in Michigan.

At a personal level, even though it hurt to be on the wrong side of the border from my grandchildren, I discovered the joys of reading storybooks via FaceTime. Even greatgrandma learned how to Zoom! Loved ones found a way to be together to mark special events and passings. The pandemic proved that we could do amazing things when put to the test.

■ We can do a lot better. Our travel and tourism industries willingly accepted that closures were necessary when public health was at stake, but even as other industries have reopened, rules affecting cross-border tourism continue to lag behind. Public health interventions that made sense 26 months ago may not apply so neatly to a population that is vaccinated and has a high percentage of people who have already had COVID.

As we enter the vacation season, rules vary greatly depending on whether one is travelling by land, sea or air, and are complicated by different requirements in the U.S. and Canada — and one’s ability to use a smart phone. At a critical time for economic recovery, we cannot afford to have people and goods wait in long lines.

Canada and the U.S. are the closest of neighbours and trading partners, yet despite every reason to co-operate, other pairings such as the U.S.EU are moving faster to normalize border facilitation plans than are the U.S. and Canada. We must apply the same spirit of co-operation we used to close the border to manage border reopening, and we must remember that good enough solutions are good enough. We do not need to hold out for perfect. LAURA DAWSON IS THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE FUTURE BORDERS COALITION, A BINATIONAL RESEARCH AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION