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Feds exempt Stewart/Hyder from some border restrictions

The integrated communities in B.C. and Alaska have been lobbying for looser rules since March
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Trustee Angela Brand Danuser, MP Taylor Bachrach and Superintendent Janet Meyer join local families in Stewart, B.C. on Sept. 18, 2020 to call for looser border restrictions between Stewart and Hyder, Ala. (Taylor Bachrach/ Facebook)

Residents of Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska can now cross the border without the COVID-19 restrictions imposed at other border crossing.

Late Friday, Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of public safety, made the announcement for Stewart as well as two other remote communities, one in New Brunswick and one in Minnesota.

Under the new rules residents of the communities will be allowed to enter the other country without observing the mandatory 14-day quarantine period for the purposes of obtaining the necessities of life such as food and medical services.

READ MORE: Pretivm lobbies for relaxed rules at Hyder/Stewart border

Children will also be allowed to attend school.”

“The limited and practical changes will continue to protect Canadians’ health and safety while removing hardships for children and for residents in remote communities impacted by the border restrictions.”

In a Facebook post, Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach applauded the exemption.

“Long overdue, this was an important and necessary step for residents in this remote part of the world to maintain their quality of life,” he said, adding he still supports keeping the rest of the Canadian border closed.

Residents and local officials in Stewart and Hyder, which are effectively a trans-border community, have been asking for the change since the border was shut down March 21.

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Campobello Island, New Brunswick and Northwest Angle, Minnesota will also benefit from the relaxed rules.



editor@interior-news.com

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Thom Barker

About the Author: Thom Barker

After graduating with a geology degree from Carleton University and taking a detour through the high tech business, Thom started his journalism career as a fact-checker for a magazine in Ottawa in 2002.
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