Washington state asks Canada for aid with isolated residents

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is asking Canada for help with U.S. residents of a small peninsula who have been marooned by the pandemic-related closure of the U.S.-Canada border.

Point Roberts is part of Washington state, but it juts out from the Canadian mainland south of Vancouver and it is not connected to the rest of Washington. About 1,300 Washington residents live there.

In a letter Friday to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Inslee noted that the residents of Point Roberts are isolated, but they are usually are able to drive through Canada and back into Washington state to obtain goods and services or to see family and friends. With the border closed to nearly all travel since March 21, that hasn’t been possible.

Inslee suggested that residents of Point Roberts could be given special travel permits allowing them to drive directly to and from the Washington state mainland. Canada has granted similar travel permits to Americans driving between the Lower 48 and Alaska.

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