Could Point Roberts crossing be utilized as a pilot project to re-open border?

Many Point Roberts businesses rely heavily on cross border customers while 75 percent of the real estate is owned by Canadians, primarily as vacation homes.

Could the Boundary Bay crossing be used as a pilot project to re-open the Canada/US border for the first time in 14 months? That’s what the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce is proposing to B.C. and Washington State health officials.

Point Roberts’ current population sits at just under 1,000 of which 80 percent is now fully vaccinated. With B.C.’s rapidly increasing first vaccination rate, the business organization believes there is no better location for a controlled re-opening on a trial basis. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the border being closed to non-essential travel back in March 2020.

“We would like to present a proposal for a pilot project that would provide an opportunity to re-open one section of the US/Canada border in an isolated yet controlled area, thereby allowing Washington State’s Department of Health and the Province of BC’s Ministry of Health to monitor and evaluate events before an expanded border reopening is considered,” said Point Roberts Chamber president Brian Calder in a letter to B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix and Dr. Umair A. Shah, Secretary of Health for Washington State.

We acknowledge that Whatcom County is located on the unceded territory of the Coast Salish Peoples. They cared for the lands that included what we’d call the Puget Sound region, Vancouver Island and British Columbia since time immemorial. This gives us the great obligation and opportunity to learn how to care for our surrounding areas and all the natural and human resources we require to live. We express our deepest respect and gratitude for our indigenous neighbors, the Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe, for their enduring care and protection of our shared lands and waterways.