When will the Canada-U.S. border reopen?
Wed., May 5, 2021, 4:00 a.m.·3 min read
When will the Canada-U.S. border reopen?
It's been more than a year since Canada and the U.S. barred people from non-essential travel between the two countries. With vaccinations ramping up in both countries, experts weigh in on when the border could reopen. (Ben Nelms/CBC - image credit)
Travel across the Canada-U.S. border could resume by late summer or fall, according to the cautious estimates of some experts, but they say the process will be complicated.
The border has been closed to non-essential travel like tourism and recreation since March 2020, and the closure agreement between Ottawa and Washington is expected to be renewed on May 21.
The agreement makes exceptions, for example, on compassionate grounds like attending a funeral, or to apply for refugee status, and enforcement has been less than absolute.
But the question on most people's minds, says foreign policy expert Aaron Ettinger, is probably "When can I do my day trips over the border once again?
"And my answer to that is, that it's going to be a long, long time."
Ettinger, an associate professor at Carleton University who specializes in Canadian and U.S. foreign policy, says he believes the borders will remain largely shut for at least a few more months.
It's been more than a year since Canada and the U.S. barred people from non-essential travel between the two countries. With vaccinations ramping up in both countries, experts weigh in on when the border could reopen.(Rob Gurdebeke/The Canadian Press)
"My gut tells me it's going to be [closed] at least well into the fall of 2021," he said, "because things are literally ten times worse now than they were this time last year with infection rates, with ICU admissions."
He says once both countries sort out the public health concerns, they will have to work through the politics.
"Politically, the United States and Canada would have to get on the same page … and that would take an enormous amount of diplomatic cross-border interaction," he said.
Given how complicated their relationship is already, Ettinger says he believes the border situation won't be resolved quickly. He noted that the U.S. has vaccinated a far greater percentage of its residents than Canada.
"The U.S. may not be all that keen on letting Canadian travellers over the border ... But I would imagine that any Canadian government would want the same treatment that Canada affords American travellers."