Fort Erie Council calls for the end of PCR tests to cross border
Published January 28, 2022 at 4:54 pm
The Fort Erie Town Council agrees. It voted unanimously on Monday night (January 24) that they would like to see the PCR tests needed to cross the Canada-US border in both direction eliminated.
In a motion before council, Ward 2 Councillor Nice Dubanow said that “border measures continue to act as a barrier to the unification of families and economic recovery in our binational community that will do nothing to stop a virus that is circulating inside Canada just as much as it is outside our borders.”
He added at the council meeting, “Even the World Health Organization has come out and said that testing and these border requirements aren’t really doing anything to stop the spread of COVID.”
Dubanow’s motion continued, “Vaccination continues to be our best tool to protect individuals and our community from the impacts of COVID-19,” adding, “Millions of Canadians and Americans took up the call and did what they were asked by becoming vaccinated with the promise of returning to normal life including the reintegration of our binational community.”
The motion concluded, “The Town of Fort Erie requests that the Canadian Federal Government discontinue the requirement for pre-arrival testing at land ports of entry along the Canada-US border, and further… (we request the government) provide a transparent plan including timelines and the public health metrics necessary for the normalization and discontinuation of all pandemic-related measures at the Canada-US border including but not necessarily limited to randomized arrival testing and the use of the ArriveCAN app.”
At the Council meeting, Mayor Wayne Redekop that the stringent testing requirements completely dominates any conversation he and other border mayors have with Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino.
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