US-Canada border closure hurts Washington state town

POINT ROBERTS, Wash. (AP) — The border closure between Canada and the United States has severely impacted Point Roberts, Washington, which is landlocked from the rest of the country.

The extended coronavirus-induced border closure shut down two border crossings for the town of about 1,300 people, who must commute 25 miles through Canada to get to the rest of Washington state.

“We really need that border open to survive,” said Tamra Hansen, who owns the Saltwater Cafe in Point Roberts.

The economy still depends on the flow of people and resources to and from the border, which closed in March and will remain closed through at least Sept. 21, KING-TV reports.

“I rely on approximately 90% of my business from the Canadians, that come from the seasonal people,” Hansen said. “And we make our money in the summer to get through the winter.”

There is no regular ferry or air service to Point Roberts. There have been no confirmed coronavirus cases reported in the town.

In 2019, 1.4 million people crossed the border into Point Roberts. So far this year, there have been just 217,000 visitors.

Gov. Jay Inslee penned a letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last Friday addressing these concerns. Inslee cited in his letter the need for a “practical solution to this issue” and emphasized “unique hardships” faced by Point Roberts residents.

It followed a similar letter to the U.S. Ambassador to Canada co-written by the state's Senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, and two other Washington state congresspeople.

The city was created because of a quirk in the Oregon Treaty of 1846 between the United Kingdom and the United States. The two countries agreed to settle their border dispute by dividing their territories in the Pacific Northwest along the...