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Articles on US-Canada border

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Searchers pulled the bodies of two families who had attempted to cross the Canada-U.S. border from the St. Lawrence River in Akwesasne, Que. on March 31. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

After the migrant deaths in Akwesasne, Canadian immigration law must reckon with its colonial history

The recent deaths of migrants trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border through Indigenous territory highlight the history of colonial dispossession that the border represents.
RCMP officers approach a woman as she enters Canada via Roxham Road near Hemmingford, Que., on March 25, 2023. Asylum-seekers at the unofficial crossing will now be turned away following amendments to the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the U.S. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

3 ways Ottawa can rebuild trust following changes to the Safe Third Country Agreement

The renegotiated Safe Third Country Agreement was politically expedient for Justin Trudeau’s government, but poses real policy and programming challenges.
Image credits clockwise: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik (Biden & Trudeau), DCMR logo, Creative Commons/Daniel Case (Roxham Road street sign), Ryan Remiorz/CP (father comforts son), AP Photo/Charles Krupa (RCMP greet migrants), Unsplash/Ra Dragon (“Refugees Welcome”), CP/Paul Chiasson (a man in handcuffs in 2017 at Québec border).

Roxham Road: Asylum seekers won’t just get turned back, they’ll get forced underground — Podcast

Migration expert Christina Clark-Kazak explains the devastating consequences of the recent change to the Safe Third Country Agreement made by U.S. President Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.
An asylum-seeker crosses the border from New York into Canada at Roxham Rd. in March 2020 in Hemmingford, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

Migrants deserve the right to make decisions about where they live

People don’t give up their right to be mobile or their right to make decisions about their lives simply because they are forced to flee untenable circumstances.
Part of Canada’s land border with the United States is closed at the Peace Arch border crossing in Surrey, B.C. on April 28, 2020. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward)

Closing some of the U.S.-Canada land border crossings could help control the COVID-19 pandemic

Current travel restrictions aren’t applied uniformly for air and land travellers. Similar restrictions need to be applied to land border crossings to curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.
A guest looks out from a Sheraton hotel window in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 22, 2021, as new air travel rules come into effect in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston

COVID-19 hotel quarantine: Exemption for ‘essential’ medical travel confuses doctors, patients

Canadian government travel restrictions are an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19 variants. But vague language around exemptions for medical travel may confuse the physicians who can grant them.
Some nurses who live in Windsor, Ont. work at hospitals in Detroit, just across the Ambassador Bridge. (Shutterstock)

Heroes, or just doing our job? The impact of COVID-19 on registered nurses in a border city

Nurses on both sides of the border report that they aren’t getting the support they need to feel safe on the job and maintain their own health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An inscription on the Peace Arch at the crossing between Washington state and British Columbia alludes to the special border relationship between the U.S. and Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Why Trump tried to use the coronavirus crisis to ‘Mexicanize’ the U.S.-Canada border

The U.S. wanted to use the coronavirus pandemic as a reason to send the military to its northern border. The idea is part of America’s desire to “Mexicanize” the world’s longest undefended border.
The Canada-U.S. border will be closed to most people because of the coronavirus, but trucks will still be able to make the trip over crossings like the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Keep on trucking: Trucks must keep moving across Canada-U.S. border amid coronavirus

Canada and the United States have opted to keep its border open to commercial trucking during the coronavirus pandemic. The decision is important to the economies of both countries.
A British Columbia motorist approaches the U.S. port of entry into Blaine, Wash., at a very quiet Douglas-Peace Arch border crossing on the day Ottawa and Washington announced the Canada-U.S. border will be closed to non-essential traffic because of the COVID-19 pandemic. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Coronavirus: Canada-U.S. border closure, other travel restrictions undermine our values

Canada’s ban on foreign travellers is not consistent with the science of the pandemic or Canada’s own values of inclusion and openness to outsiders.
A Congolese family approaches the unofficial border crossing with Canada while walking down Roxham Road in Champlain, N.Y., in August 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charles Krupa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Charles Krupa

Refugee stories reveal anxieties about the Canada-U.S. border

Canadian leaders have desperately tried to preserve the country’s image of liberal humanitarianism at our border, but the reality is Canada’s immigration history is built upon exclusion.
A group of asylum-seekers raise their hands as they approach RCMP officers while crossing the Canadian border in August 2017 in Champlain, N.Y. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

It’s time to abolish the inhumane Canada-U.S. deal on asylum-seekers

Rather than closing a loophole in a Canada-U.S. agreement that allows Canadian officials to turn back asylum-seekers from the U.S. at the border, the deal should be abolished outright.

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