Islanders to lose ferry service, face border reentry difficulties

The provincial government plans to cut the subsidy to the seasonal ferry from Campobello Island to Deer Island at the end of December. Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Jill Green feels that, with the federal government no longer demanding molecular tests for COVID 19 for Canadians returning from trips of no more than 72 hours across the border, the bridge to Lubec, Maine, provides Campobello Island good highway access to the mainland, according to departmental spokesman Mark Taylor.
The minister "has been pretty clear that the extension of the ferry service will take place as long as the border was closed," Taylor says.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the subsidy has cost the province $575,000 up to December 3 and will total close to $600,000 by the end of December, Taylor says. The province did not end the subsidy immediately after the federal government announced the new rules for short trips "to give people a little bit of extra time to adjust to the border being reopened again."
Campobello Mayor Harvey Matthews says islanders need more time, especially with plans next month to lift the exemption allowing residents to cross the bridge for essential goods and services without having to register with the federal ArriveCAN App to return home. "I think the province is jumping the gun on the ferry. It should stay subsidized for the rest of the winter. As far as the border regulations, we still have our exemption, although I'm told starting January 1 we will have to do the ArriveCAN App even for our essentials. It's like the governments have forgotten we are down here," he says.
On December 6 the Campobello Island Rural Community Council sent a letter to provincial Premier Blaine Higgs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others urging Fredericton to extend the subsidy to the ferry and Ottawa to leave the exemption in place for Campobello Island residents crossing the bridge for essential goods and services.
"Island residents, as of December 31, 2021, will have no choice but to travel through the United States to get back into Canada for all essential services such as banking, medical services, groceries, vehicle maintenance, Service N.B., et cetera. The reason for 'no choice' being the Province of New Brunswick will be suspending the ferry service between Campobello and Deer Island," the letter states. Many older people and less well off families do not have the means to use ArriveCAN, the letter states.
The federal government announced the change last month, allowing people in border communities to make short trips to the United States without COVID 19 tests to come back home. It applies only to fully-vaccinated Canadian citizens and permanent residents plus people registered under the Indian Act returning to Canada within 72 hours. People taking advantage of this change must still register their travel plans through ArriveCAN within 72 hours before arrival in Canada and meet other requirements.

CBSA staff can help with app
Canada Border Services Agency staff can offer help if they encounter travellers unaware that they had to register via ArriveCAN, according to Allan Donovan with CBSA media relations. "Border services officers can help land travellers comply with the requirement to submit their information digitally by allowing the traveller to return to the U.S. to take the time to complete the ArriveCAN form and re enter Canada after submitting it. Also, where operations make it possible to do so, they can allow the traveller to complete their ArriveCAN submission upon arrival at ports of entry," he says in an email.
"Travellers without a smartphone or without mobile data can submit their information by signing in online through any computing device. Travellers can also ask another person for assistance, such as a friend or relative, to submit their information if they are unable to use ArriveCAN. They do not need to be travelling together. Once they have submitted the travellers' information, they should print the receipt page or take a screenshot and provide it to the traveller to show to the border services officer," he says.
"Things do not always go that smoothly, according to New Brunswick Southwest MP John Williamson, who hears from constituents who did not know they had to register via ArriveCAN before returning from a short trip to the United States "and despite the fact they are double vaccinated and are going for a quick trip, are being forced to self isolate."
The CBSA can send people back to download the app and even send them to the Calais Free Library for information, but "that hasn't happened in many cases," Williamson says.
"There should be an ability to make an honest mistake, to be treated with more respect and understanding and to be given, at least initially, a warning as opposed to sending them right into self isolation," Williamson says, citing one person who had a medical appointment and another with a job. "This is bureaucratic red tape, not keeping anyone safe," he says.
Aside from losing their exemption under ArriveCAN next month, Williamson suspects that the Biden administration will demand that anybody crossing to Lubec from Campobello Island be vaccinated the same as anybody else entering the United States, "so there are more and more pressures coming on Campobello to conform to the rules that apply everywhere else. There is no recognition from Ottawa or Washington regarding the uniqueness of Campobello."

Year-round ferry calls may increase
Williamson believes that calls for a year round ferry to Campobello Island will increase. "I have been told by the federal government they are willing to help the province if a request is made," but he says, "The province needs to come up with a plan."
Saint Croix MLA Kathy Bockus, who sits on the government side of the Legislative Assembly, supports a year round ferry to Campobello Island. "I plan to continue to push for a year round ferry for the residents of Campobello Island because that's what they've told me they want, and I was elected to be their voice in Fredericton," she says.
"At the present time there is no plan for a year round ferry," says Taylor with Transportation and Infrastructure, but he says the province would be "happy to discuss the ferry situation with our federal counterparts."
"I think pressure is going to increase on them, not only from islanders who are impacted but, I think, out of a sense that Campobello is an important part of New Brunswick and deserves to be treated the same as other New Brunswickers by being able to access their province directly," Williamson says.
Justin Tinker, who grew up on Campobello Island but lives and works in Saint John today, agrees. "The ball is clearly in the provincial government's court. They need to submit a proposal to Ottawa," he says.
Tinker is a member of the Campobello Year Round Ferry Development Committee, which contends that a transportation link to the New Brunswick mainland would help reverse the economic and social decline on this Canadian island. He says that enrollment at the Campobello Island Consolidated School dropped from 190 in 2003 to 110 in September 2020. He expects this year's census will place the population below 800. He cites New Brunswick's 2021 Child Poverty Report Card released in November by the Saint John Human Development Council stating that 42.9% of children at Wilson's Beach, Campobello Island, live in poverty compared to the provincial average of 21.7%, based on the federal government's low income measure. This report uses data from 2019, before the pandemic, he notes.
"Campobello can't afford to keep declining like this," he says, adding, "I don't know why they're abandoning Campobello."