U.S. Senator Tina Smith Presses U.S. State Department to Address Canadian Border Restrictions Hurting Travel to Minnesota's Northwest Angle

Press Release

U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-Minn.) has repeatedly pressed Canadian officials on issues affecting the Minnesota's Northwest Angle--which cannot be accessed by land without traveling briefly through Canada--and today, Sen. Smith is urging the U.S. State Department to address new Canadian restrictions that are hurting Minnesotans who own homes and businesses in the Northwest Angle.

Currently, due to border restrictions recently enacted by Canada, Angle residents, tourists and business owners are required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test in order to travel through Canada to the Angle. But with limited PCR testing available in rural areas, Sen. Smith says that these restrictions, which apply regardless of an individual's vaccination status, must be addressed.

"Minnesota's Northwest Angle cannot be accessed by land without traveling briefly through Canada. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Government has severely restricted cross-border travel, and the uniform policy that treats all cross-border travel equally creates major problems for exclaves like the Northwest Angle," wrote Sen. Smith in her letter to Secretary of State Tony Blinken. "The effect of these policies is to prohibit Americans from traveling to their homes, and they have starved tourism reliant business owners of their customer base. By ignoring the unique circumstance of this community, Canadian officials have placed undue hardship on American citizens."

Source