opinion: 'just tell us what's going on' with the border
by: anne jarvis mayor drew dilkens’ office received an ...
jun 27 2021
4 minute read
the international border crossing between canada and the united states at the ambassador bridge in windsor, ontario.
nick brancaccio
/
windsor star
by: anne jarvis
mayor drew dilkens’ office received an email from health canada on thursday urgently requesting a meeting.
there is a “critical and immediate need for leasing city-owned properties to relocate the public health agency of canada and canadian red cross covid-19 testing operations currently held at the windsor tunnel and ambassador bridge ports of entry,” it stated.
“the planned easing of border measures at the beginning of july and the associated increase in traveller volume will affect the capacity and operations at both windsor ports of entry. as such, immediate relocation is required.”
so the government really is working on a plan to reopen the border to non-essential travel.
but all we know is that starting july 5, fully vaccinated canadian citizens and permanent residents can travel internationally without having to quarantine for 14 days when they return.
that’s it. we don’t know what the rest of the plan is.
and that’s particularly difficult for border cities like windsor.
as hard as this has been, we’re not ready to reopen the border yet. it was only last month that hospitals in parts of ontario and other provinces were overwhelmed, forced to send covid-19 patients to other hospitals hundreds of kilometres away.
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we’re not even fully reopened yet. ontario won’t move to step two of its reopening until wednesday. even then, non-essential retail businesses will still be limited to 25 per cent capacity, restaurants will still be limited to patio seating and caesars windsor will remain closed.
then, we need to wait three weeks to assess the impact of these measures before moving to step three, which isn’t planned until july 23.
while 76 per cent of eligible canadians have received their first dose of a covid-19 vaccine, that means almost a quarter of the eligible population isn’t vaccinated. and only 27 per cent of those eligible are fully vaccinated.
there are hot spots in windsor where barely half of people have received their first dose.
but while it’s too early to reopen, it’s past time for a plan to reopen.
health minister patty hajdu has hinted that 75 per cent of eligible canadians must be fully vaccinated before the border reopens. but canada’s chief public health officer, dr. theresa tam, said friday that to avoid a fourth wave driven by the more transmissible delta variant, at least 80 per cent of canadians should be fully vaccinated before lifting basic public health measures like wearing masks and physically distancing.
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hajdu has also cited other potential factors like hospitalization rates and capacity and whether there are sustained outbreaks, both important considerations. the government will also have to collaborate with provinces.
trudeau says it will be a matter of weeks, not months. so what’s the plan?
it will likely be a gradual reopening. but what will those stages be, and what metrics must be met at each stage? there was none of that when the government announced monday that the border would remain closed to non-essential travel for another month.
“the federal government seems to be dealing with this on the fly,” said dilkens.
we’ve had 16 months, since the border was closed in march 2020, to figure out the parameters for reopening it. we’ve had seven months, since the first vaccine was approved, to start planning.
instead, we face continued uncertainty, and border cities like windsor feel that uncertainty most acutely. our economy and society is intertwined with that of the u.s. our economy, especially our automotive, mould making and hospitality and tourism sectors, depends on the american market. as the canadian association of mold makers/automate canada study released this week reported, 70 per cent of the 90 companies surveyed have lost contracts in 2021 because of covid-19 border restrictions.
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then there are all the people whose families straddle the border, who have emailed and called dilkens’ office, “opened their whole heart and explained how this has deeply impacted them,” he said.
“every single one of them — they were all legitimate, honest assessments of what the family impact is of a border closure, from the birth of a first grandchild to funerals to every other situation in-between. i never understood how deep those connections are until the border closed. it’s so much more than going to target.”
we need — and i never thought i’d say this — a reopening plan for the border that is like premier doug ford’s reopening plan for ontario. we need clearly defined steps and metrics, in short, a roadmap. as dilkens has said, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. we can plan for reopening while we continue vaccinating.
“everyone can live with continued restrictions, at least a little bit, as long as they know what the plan is,” said dilkens. “just tell us what’s going on. write it down so everyone understands what the objective is so we can all watch the right numbers go up and the right numbers go down and know what the target is. let businesses plan. let people start planning.”
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