Expats

Below is the full text of a story about a Canadian in the US separated from her family because of border restrictions. Please contact Covid Stories Archive if you would like to use or reproduce this essay, in whole or in part, for your research or writing. Also, please consider sharing your own stories for preservation in our archive.

I am a Canadian living in the US. I have not seen my family for almost two years. My Mother almost died last summer from an infection following surgery and I couldn’t be there through any of it. I have a baby nephew who I have never met and a 2 1/2 year old niece who I haven’t seen since she was 6 months old. She doesn’t even know her cousins or Grandparents at all. She actually doesn’t really know anyone because they moved to Ottawa right before the pandemic and nobody comes within 6 feet of a stranger in Ottawa, let alone take off their mask. So this little girl knows the face of her Mom and Dad and her baby brother and that’s about it. We are flying home to all be together on August 9 when the border finally opens* after almost 18 months of being closed. If excessive, irrational fear of this new variant, or politics, cause new restrictions so that we cannot go, I am going to become completely unhinged.

Editor’s note: On August 9, 2021, Canada opened the border to entry from the U.S. for those who could demonstrate that they had been “fully vaccinated” at least 14 days prior. Public Health Agency of Canada announcement. On Septemeber 20, 2022, Canada announced the end of the vaccine requirement for entry.

Please consider sharing your own stories

for preservation in our archive.