BUFFALO, N.Y. — The U.S.-Canadian Border has been closed for more than 15 months now.

What You Need To Know

  • The president and the Canadian prime minister will discuss travel between the United States and Canada at the G7 Summit this week
  • This is coming as the push to open the border, or at least develop a plan, has intensified even in the last several days
  • The co-chairs of the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary group took part in a panel discussion about the issue
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Rep. Brian Higgins, D-NY-26, said the two nations have much more than a border in common, but how to handle opening that border to this point has not been among those commonalities.

"Unnecessarily, the United States-Canadian relationship took a major hit over the past 14 months,” he said. “Unnecessarily so because of politics. Because of a situation relative to the coronavirus.”

Higgins, the American chair of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group, has been among the most vocal advocates for a phased reopening of the border. He said the vaccines have proved safe and effective and fully-vaccinated travelers should be allowed to do things like see their family members or visit property across in the other countries.

"This is not ideological," he said. "This is common sensical, and I think that all of us need to get back to a semblance of normalcy."

Higgins' Canadian counterpart, House of Commons Member Wayne Easter, said politics and bureaucracy has played a part in his country. Even as he agrees on the efficacy of the vaccine, he says it has not been politically expedient for politicians to rush reopening.

"We have managed on the Canadian side to create a heck of a lot of fear,” Easter said. “It was useful in the beginning in terms of getting people to stay home, wear masks, social distance, etc., but we really did make people fearful.”

Easter, during a Thursday panel, said Canadian public opinion is starting to shift and called plans to loosen quarantine restrictions a start.

"I think it shows yesterday with the prime minister's announcement that we are indeed making progress,” he said. “I think we still have a substantial distance to go.”

The Canadian tourism industry, which is in danger of another lost summer and perhaps the fall, said operators and travelers are desperately in need of a timeline too.

"Tourism is not something that you flip on with a switch,” Tourism Industry Association of Canada President & CEO Beth Potter said. “It's an advance booking industry, and we've got to continue to remind ourselves of that.”

Higgins said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden are planning to meet in the next three days during the G7 Summit in England to discuss the issues.

"In the end, these are the only two decision-makers that matter," Higgins said. "They can make a game-changing decision. This could be an inflection point."

Easter said he hopes the meeting goes well and the two decide on some common sense changes.