Mix of Joy, Frustration for Separated Families as Canada Lifts Border Restrictions

The Canada-U.S. border crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge in Lansdowne, Ont., on Sept. 28, 2020. Lars Hagberg/Reuters

Some families with loved ones in Canada and the United States are ecstatic about Ottawa’s decision to lift border restrictions, since they will be able to reunite. But beneath the joy there is deep frustration that has built up over the past years and the sentiment that the battle is only half-won, as the U.S. border is still technically closed to unvaccinated foreigners.

“I’m in tears right now as I type this, as I’m realizing I will actually be able to hug my husband for the first time in 2 years,” said Vera Post in an email to The Epoch Times. “This should have never happened.”

Post and other individuals in similar circumstances had spoken with The Epoch Times for a story published in August about Canadians who were affected by the travel vaccine mandate. The Epoch Times again reached out to them to get their impressions on the lifting of restrictions.

The federal government wanted its travel vaccine mandate to be “world-leading” and one of the “strongest” in the world, according to court documents pertaining to lawsuits challenging the mandate. However, the policy led to many individuals missing funerals and other key life moments, as well as bi-national families being separated.

With the removal of the the border vaccine mandate and other restrictions starting on Oct. 1, Post says she will finally be able to see her American husband she hasn’t seen since November 2020. She says her husband is planning to drive up from the state of Oklahoma to Ontario once they’ve gathered the required funds.

The end of the restrictions means that travellers, regardless of their citizenship or vaccination status, will be able to enter Canada. Unvaccinated individuals entering the country will no longer need to quarantine for 14 days, and the ArriveCan system will become voluntary.

‘US Needs to Follow Suit’

Christine Dougherty is a U.S. citizen and Canadian permanent resident living in Ontario across from Buffalo in New York.

Transport Minister Omar Algabra appears by video conference as he listens to Howard Njoo, deputy chief public health officer at the Public Health Agency of Canada, during a news conference on Sept. 26, 2022, in Ottawa. Federal ministers say all COVID-19 border restrictions will end as of Oct. 1, including mandatory vaccinations, testing and quarantine of international travellers, and mandatory masks on planes and trains. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

As a U.S. citizen, she could always enter her country without issue, but coming back was problematic with the 14-day quarantine rule. Dougherty says she missed births and deaths in her bi-national family.

“As a U.S. citizen, I’m thrilled, but I will not forget the families that are still separated as I know how it feels to be forgotten,” she says.

She now has plans to visit her sister in Buffalo as soon as the restrictions are lifted on Oct. 1

“I’m sure I will cry when I cross the Peace Bridge,” says Dougherty, who will now be able to meet her great niece who is almost 2 years old and whom she has never met.

“While this is a victory for cross-border families and a long time coming, the U.S. needs to follow suit and allow unvaccinated Canadians to enter the U.S.”

‘Mixed Feelings’

“Today’s announcement brings mixed feelings of relief and frustration for our family,” says Eric Chambers of B.C., in reference to the government’s Sept. 26 announcement about lifting restrictions.

He hopes that lawsuits launched against the travel mandates will still be allowed to go forward so that there is some “accountability for the harm that these restrictions have caused to so many families.”

A Federal Court hearing on Sept. 21 heard a motion by the attorney general seeking to declare the lawsuits moot due to domestic vaccine mandates having been lifted on June 20.

A person holds a smartphone set to the opening screen of the ArriveCan app in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Giordano Ciampini

The applicants challenging the mandate point to the federal government saying the measure was only being “suspended” and said they want the court to rule on whether it violated charter rights.

Due to U.S. border rules, the Chambers family won’t be able to cross south, but he says some relatives and good friends will now be able to visit him and his family in Canada.

“Canadian/American families could never have anticipated being separated this way, and for this long,” he wrote in an email.

“We have loved ones that did not survive to see the lifting of the restrictions, that we can never see again.”

‘Bi-National Families Were Abandoned’

Marcella Picone of Buffalo, New York, is a U.S. citizen and her fiancé in Canada is a permanent resident with whom she has two children.

“I am elated that Canada has finally went pre-pandemic and has eliminated a discriminatory, unjust app,” says Picone, alluding to the mandatory ArriveCan system for entering the country.

“There is so much heartache, and bi-national families were abandoned and forgotten by both the U.S. and Canadian governments.”

While she has been able to cross into Canada in the past months, her fiancé hasn’t been able to visit the United States, hence their situation hasn’t changed. Unvaccinated U.S. citizens can enter their own country, but unvaccinated foreigners cannot.

Picone has been advocating for the lifting of restrictions in both countries and manages social media support groups for bi-national families. She says she also worked with the office of Congressman Chris Jacobs to deal with border restrictions.

Picone says she’ll continue her advocacy until the United States lifts its border restrictions, which she says make “no sense” given that President Joe Biden recently said the “pandemic is over.”

“Bi-national families saw the freedom to connect and reunite with immediate and extended family suppressed during the pandemic, a freedom that should have not been forfeited and should never again be in the hands of an overbearing government,” Picone said.