Sunday, June 01, 2025
57.0°F

Canada closing borders to non-citizens, Americans exempted

Rob Gillies | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 5 years, 2 months AGO
by Rob Gillies
| March 16, 2020 5:19 PM

photo

Shoppers walk by near empty shelves at a grocery store in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, March 14, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

photo

Canada Health Minister Adrian Dix looks on as Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry addresses the media during a news conference regarding the coronavirus in Vancouver, B.C., Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press via AP)

photo

A camera operator wears a protective mask as British Columbia Premier John Horgan, Health Minister Adrian Dix, back right, and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, hidden, take questions during a news conference about the provincial response to the coronavirus, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, March 6, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

photo

Health Minister Adrian Dix, front, British Columbia Premier John Horgan and provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry arrive for a news conference about the provincial response to the coronavirus, in Vancouver, Canada, on Friday, March 6, 2020. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday he will close the country's borders to anyone not a citizen, an American or a permanent resident — and even they have to self-isolate for 14 days on arrival — due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Let me be clear: If you are abroad, now is the time to come home,” the prime minister said. “If you’ve just arrived, you must self-isolate for 14 days."

He also said those already in the country, "as much as possible should stay home." He spoke outside his residence, where is self isolating after his wife tested positive for the virus.

Trudeau said the exemption for Americans, despite the rapid rise of cases in the U.S., was due to “the level of integration of our two economies." The U.S. accounts for 75 percent of the country's exports.

"Canada and the United States have the longest un-militarized border in the world and that border is vital to the daily life to people on both sides that live of that border," said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

But she noted American tourists are not likely to visit anyway because they will have to self isolate.

“I don't consider that something that a tourist would like to do for a holiday," she said.

Ontario's chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, meanwhile, recommended that all bars and restaurants close, other than those doing take-out and delivery. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, had already ordered all public schools closed for two weeks after March break.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said the damage to both the U.S. and Canada would be immense if they shut their borders to each other.

“Much more so than shutting the border to people from other states. It is the only land border that Canada shares with another country. So much of Canada’s food supply comes from or via the U.S.,” Wiseman said.

“Their economies are so integrated that they would collapse and in quite short order if their common border were to be closed completely. However, Canada has more of a stake in keeping the border open than does the U.S.”

Barbara Wills, a 67-year-old real estate agent from Calgary who has been living and working in Ajijic, Mexico, for 17 years, said she knew of about a half-dozen Canadian snowbird couples who were “panicking” and leaving the area a month earlier than planned. She has no plans to leave for home.

“They’re afraid he is going to close the border, and so they’re trying to get back to Canada before that happens,” Wills said. “They’re on the road driving. They’re getting outta Dodge.”

Another woman she knows has a flight home next Sunday but was trying to get an earlier one if possible.

The government is restricting overseas flights to just four airports in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver, and mandating airlines to screen passengers for symptoms of the virus before allowing anyone to board a plane.

The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Canada more than doubled since Friday, including 32 new confirmed cases in Ontario on Monday.

Trudeau said `"we can still slow the spread of this virus'' but it will take a major adjustment from everyone.

Officials in the Pacific Coast province of British Columbia also announced three more deaths, all of them stemming from a long-term care home in North Vancouver where the first death in Canada was reported. Canada has more than 400 confirmed cases and now four deaths.

British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix said he vehemently disagreed with the American exemption given the surge in cases in neighboring Washington State."It's our strong view and strong message that visitors from Washington State not come to British Columbia," Dix said.

Trudeau's wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive after returning from London. She attended the same event as British actor Idris Elba, who announced Monday he has also tested positive for the virus. She posed for pictures with him.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Canada closing borders to non-citizens, Americans exempted
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 2 months ago
US, Canada working on mutual ban on non-essential travel
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 2 months ago
US, Canada working on mutual ban on non-essential travel
Columbia Basin Herald | Updated 5 years, 2 months ago

ARTICLES BY ROB GILLIES

March 19, 2009 11 p.m.

Pope to acknowledge suffering at Canadian schools

TORONTO - Pope Benedict XVI is expected to acknowledge abuse of aboriginals at Christian-run schools when he meets with survivors later this month at the Vatican, a spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Wednesday.

March 19, 2009 11 p.m.

Pope to acknowledge suffering at Canadian schools

TORONTO - Pope Benedict XVI is expected to acknowledge abuse of aboriginals at Christian-run schools when he meets with survivors later this month at the Vatican, a spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Wednesday.

March 19, 2009 11 p.m.

Pope to acknowledge suffering at Canadian schools

TORONTO - Pope Benedict XVI is expected to acknowledge abuse of aboriginals at Christian-run schools when he meets with survivors later this month at the Vatican, a spokesman for the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops said Wednesday.