Chamber calls for post mortem

Reacting to the announcement that Canada will be dropping its border restrictions on October 1, Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce president Brian Calder is calling upon on federal and state officials to conduct a post-mortem on how those restrictions impacted exclave communities such as Point Roberts, Hyder, Alaska, the Northwest Angle in Minnesota and Campobello Island, New Brunswick.

“We have been waiting for this news for over two years,” Calder said. “We are ready to showcase our community which was virtually impossible over the past 2-1/2 years with border closures and restrictions. But while we do this, we have a responsibility to ensure we are prepared in the event of a future pandemic or global issue that could result in border closures. Exclaves were disproportionately affected by border closures and restrictions for well over two years and suffered unprecedented losses. We simply cannot survive another shutdown.”

Calder believes there are solutions and is calling on federal and state governments to work with Canadian authorities and exclave communities on a complete and thorough post-mortem for all exclaves along the US/Canada border. Ideally, he would like a detailed analysis completed for each exclave that will prioritize specific cross-border access in the event of a future pandemic or other global emergency:

“In my opinion, the reason the exclaves were reeling during this pandemic was a failure by decision makers to learn and understand the unique needs of exclave communities before decisions were made,” added Calder. 

“It is impossible to apply the same restrictions across an international border without consequences,” Calder pointed out. “These exclaves are not self-sufficient. I communicated with community leaders in the other exclaves to discuss how the border closures had affected each of their communities and while some issues we faced are similar, others were region-specific.”

“We must learn from past mistakes and be prepared for future events,” said Calder. “Anything short of this will no doubt result in a repeat occurrence and the collapse of our most vulnerable, isolated
communities.”