Border closures may not be legal and won’t stop spread of COVID-19

This division between Canadians and foreign nationals, us and them, risks stoking racism and xenophobia, which has been frequently reported in the wake of the outbreak.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, pictured at a March 18 press conference in Ottawa, has said the reciprocal agreement with the United States to turn away asylum seekers irregularly crossing the U.S.-Canada border is a ‘temporary’ measure.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

Opinion

BY Y.Y. BRANDON CHEN, JAMIE LIEW

March 25, 2020

Canada announced unprecedented measures last week to restrict the movement of people across our borders as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting on March 18, most foreign nationals—people who are not Canadian citizens or per...

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