'Hope for the best': Point Roberts residents welcome Canada-U.S. land border reopening

Vancouver -

Communities along the U.S.-Canada border are breathing a sigh of relief, after the White House confirmed it will reopen the land border in early November.

Land and sea borders have been shut down for 19 months due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The closures have had a massive impact on nearby communities like Point Roberts.

The small pene-exclave is separated from the rest of Washington state by water on three sides.

Land access to the community is only possible by travelling through B.C.

Brian Calder, the president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce, described the shutdown as “economically devastating and a humanitarian crisis that was mostly unnecessary.”

“Half our people here in Point Roberts, including me, are dual citizens. We’re Canadian and U.S. Ninety per cent of our economy comes from Canada, not from the USA. All of our water and power comes from British Columbia,” explained Calder.

Fully vaccinated Americans have been able to enter Canada for non-essential reasons since Aug. 9.

However, the U.S. upheld its closure, angering snowbirds and those in the travel industry.

Air travel has also continued throughout the pandemic, with travellers being allowed to fly with proof of a negative COVID-19 test.

Calder said he welcomes the reopening plan, but is skeptical.

“I've seen the realization of what happened to us on the ground. Every month, the carrot's out there for a year and a half. You have to be really stupid to not really see it in writing before you're going to believe it,” he told CTV News.

Several businesses in Point Roberts have shut down during the pandemic due to a dramatic drop in tourism.

“Whether we recover in two years, five years, that's the wild card, and we're obviously going to hope for the best,” said Calder.

He’s concerned that many of their regular visitors will not come back.

“The boats are gone, they've left. They left a year and a half ago. They took their boats out of the marina, 650 of them. The gasoline, are they going to come down? Have they found another place for their parcel post? In a year and a half, they probably have,” Calder said.

The White House has not given a definitive answer as to whether AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, which has not been approved for use in the U.S., would be accepted under the new travel requirements.

However, the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said it would accept any of the vaccines approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, which would include AstraZeneca.

The U.S. CDC said it’s still working to formalize procedures for admitting those who have received mix and match doses.

An exact date for the land border reopening has not been given.

With files from CTV’s Nafeesa Karim and Ian Holliday