“May these gates never be closed” are the words written on the iconic Peace Arch at the Canada – US border.
“This area is the only place on the entire Canada-U.S. border where there’s an international peace park that people can cross to from either country, share the same space and be together,” said Dr. Laurie Trautman director of the Border Policy Research Institute.
Trautman runs an institute that studies the border at Bellingham’s Western Washington University.
She recalls how in the early days of the pandemic, Peace Arch Park’s unique, open status became a haven for people separated by a closed border.
“They came here in droves, and a lot of those people were unmarried couples who couldn’t see each other because of the border restrictions,” Trautman told Global News on Sunday.
But that didn’t last long as worries about COVID-19 triggered the closure of the Canadian side of the park.
Two years later with most of Canada vaccinated, and the border mostly re-opened, the Canadian side of the park is still closed.
It turns out the Canadian side is run by the provincial environment ministry, who told Global News they intend to keep it closed indefinitely, because they’re not able to check vaccine status, or ensure visitors meet the border entry requirements.
Some find that baffling given that accessing the park has nothing to do with actually crossing into Canada and the ministry isn’t concerned about the vaccine status of people visiting any of its other parks.
“It’s a mystery why access to the park and the park opening would have anything to do with Canadian entry requirements,” Trautman said.