The border between Canada and the US remains closed to unvaccinated travellers on both sides due to lingering vaccine mandates for travel, creating heart-breaking circumstances for tens of thousands of families..Unvaccinated Canadians looking to visit loved ones in the US have been banned from crossing the border and vice versa..Millions of unvaccinated Canadians who held out hope US land border travel restrictions would expire at midnight on April 21 will continue to wait as the Department of Homeland Security extended its land-border entry requirements and will continue to require proof of vaccination with no indication of an end date..And, included in the 2021 federal budget, the Trudeau government proposed "to provide $37.4 million over three years, starting in 2021-22, to Transport Canada to support" vaccine mandates for all federally-regulated air, rail and marine employees and passengers..The Western Standard spoke with several families who have been separated from their loved ones throughout the pandemic due to border lockdowns and the requirement for mandatory quarantine or proof of vaccination to board a plane for Canadians or cross the border in either direction..Marcella Picone, a mother in Buffalo, N.Y., said she hasn't seen her Canadian fiancé living in Stoney Creek, On. for months. Picone created the Facebook group For the Love of Family - Reunification for All more than eight months ago to help advocate for families separated by the vaccine restrictions for travel.."The goal is to get the US land border open so that all bi-national families are allowed to cross by land into the US," says a statement on the Facebook page.."Families deserve to be able to reunite, all families, not just vaccinated families."."For the last 19 months, Family Reunification allowed all travellers throughout the globe to reunite with family in Canada with a testing and quarantine option.".The elimination of Family Reunification took effect on January 15..The Western Standard spoke to four other people whose families have experienced heart-wrenching separation from loved ones, including Tanya Meade from North Vancouver, BC, Justin Ryning from Fort McMurray, Alta., Chris Pattie — a Canadian living in Pensacola, Fla. and Alecia Merrihew — a Canadian living in Grand Rapids, Mich.
