US & Canada Border Closure To Be Extended | One Mile at a Time

The border between the US and Canada has been closed for non-essential travel since March 21. Up until now the border has been closed for non-essential travel through August 21. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, but it has been announced that this will be extended by an additional month, through September 21, 2020.

We are extending the reciprocal restrictions at the Canada-US border for another 30 days, till Sept. 21, 2020. We will continue to do what's necessary to keep our communities safe.

- Bill Blair (@BillBlair) August 14, 2020

As Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has described the closure:

"We recognize that the situation continues to be complex in the United States in regards to COVID-19. Every month, we have been able to extend the border closures to all but essential goods and services and those discussions are ongoing."

This marks the fifth extension, as we've always seen the border closure extended by a month at a time (first through April 21, then through May 21, then through June 21, then through July 21, and then through August 21).

This is being done to control the spread of coronavirus. This prevents most non-essential travel, but select essential travelers, as well as goods, are still allowed to cross the border.

There are a couple of further things to note:

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• Americans are allowed to transit Canada enroute to a third country, but only if remaining in sterile transit (though there are very few countries Americans can travel to, so that's largely a moot point)
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• Canadians are allowed to vacation in the US if arriving by air, though Americans aren't allowed to vacation in Canada

This extension shouldn't come as much of a surprise, and for that matter I'd expect the border to remain closed for a very long time. Any travel over the coming months (especially internationally) really will have to be planned last minute, given how often restrictions are being updated.

A vast majority of Canadians continue to remain opposed to borders reopening. I certainly can't blame them for that, especially when you consider that Canadians continue to be allowed to vacation in the US if traveling by air (not that they'd necessarily want to, but they can).