Sorry New Yorkers (and the Rest of the Country), the Canadian Border Won’t Open in June

Watching the news over the course of the last year regarding the status of the Canadian border has been like sitting on a stomach tossing rollercoaster of emotions.

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One minute Americans and Canadians alike are rejoicing at the news that the border may be about to open (last week was jam-packed with that speculation) and then next our joy-filled balloons are deflated as we learn that rather than opening, the border closure has been extended. Again.

It has now been 506 days since the last time anyone in this American family personally laid eyes on our property in Canada and 689 days since any of us physically set foot in or on our property. People have checked in on our property, sending us photos of how things look from the locked up outside of our cottage, but none of us have physically placed our own two eyes on our property in 506 days.

Tensions are rising on both sides of the border especially after rumblings that Prime Minister Trudeau would most likely begin the process of opening the border on June 22 before shutting that talk down by extending the closure until the end of July.

American property owners are desperate to check on their properties and the summer tourism industry which is what sustains so many small Canadian towns during the long winter months has been non-existent for now the second summer in a row. Even worse, families who live on either side of the border have been unable to see each other even as vaccinations have been rolled out.

Speaking of vaccines, it seems that the lack of fully vaccinated Canadians has much to do with the border closure being extended. Candian officials say that in order for the border to open, there needs to be at least 75 percent of Canadians fully vaccinated along with at least 20 percent of Canadians who have received at least their first shot. At this point, PBS reports that about 70 percent of eligible Canadians have had at least one dose of vaccine.

I've not spoken with any health experts to confirm what I've been told, but several of my friends who live in Ontario tell me that one of the biggest problems is that people who received their first dose in March are still waiting for their second dose.

The biggest reason (according to my friends) that more people aren't fully vaccinated is because vaccinations have been hard to come by, However, help is on the way. CVT News reports that Canada is expected to receive 5.2 million vaccine doses this week. But still, the wait time between the first dose and second isn't helping to drive up the number of fully vaccinated Canadians at any kind of fast speed. So we sit and we wait some more.