@AlaskaTundrea – Well, rights is not what I’m addressing. I respect the right of a sovereign country to enforce its borders (walls are still idiotic). What I’m pressing against is the fear mongering and non-scientific approach that has deeply damaged the relationship between our two countries, in particular, through the inflammation of Canadian xenophobic tendencies. The future will only be saved through international cooperation, and the Canada/USA relationship is one of the lynchpins of global order. In the future, we will need to join or die.
It’s disappointing when people characterize me as an angry an entitled American who just wants others to do what I want. I admit that I’m personally invested in this issue: my daughter has gone half her life without her grandparents, I miss my best friends and I own a business that benefits from Canadian tourism, but I’m far from the only person harmed.
Families and friends have been isolated without recourse for over a year. Communities along the 8891 kilometers of border, north and south, have seen their businesses wither and die and their whole way of life upended. Unlike the rest of Covid restrictions, there has been no slackening, or intelligent rollbacks, or modifications to the damaging policy. It’s just a hard no and a shoulder shrug for “how long?” There are no target goals for reopening, and no advice given to people affected. If you open a business now, will the border be open by Summer? By Winter? By the Summer after that? Uncertainly creates instability creates social harm.
I don’t know what the exact, safest, most economically viable plan is, but I do know that it is a plan. We could use one.