Like the rest of the world, when the pandemic was declared in March of last year, the otherwise lively streets of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. became deserted and quiet—but they weren’t calm. Northern Ontario saw major job losses and in-person classes were cancelled. The uncertainty was daunting.
At this time, I lost my job at a sports stadium in Ottawa and my classes moved online. I took one of the few remaining flights back to my family in Sault Ste. Marie.
I thought after a few weeks, I’d be able to go back to Ottawa and return to my normal life. But as the days turned to weeks and weeks to months, it was becoming clear that this situation was going to last for the long term.
Like many places, people in Sault Ste. Marie saw the environment around them change in scary ways. Every day, people were seeing news reports on new COVID-19 cases or deaths in the region. Regulations were also issued to close down practically all public venues.
It was becoming clear some of these restrictions were hurting small towns.
Even before the pandemic, it was always hard to get from Ottawa to Sault Ste. Marie during school holidays.
The Greyhound bus line dropped service West of Sudbury in Ontario and students travelling to Northern Ontario got cut off from their families. Unless students had the time, money and patience for an eight-hour road trip or two-flight journey, they couldn’t get home. This meant that airlines’ decision to cancel all or most flights when the pandemic hit was especially bad for parts of the province without a GO Train.
In the same vein, some have complained about the fact that local businesses were forced to shut down while multinational and Toronto-based corporations remained open as essential services.
Likewise, in the early days of the pandemic, the federal government severely limited border crossing to contain the spread of COVID-19. While this impacted people from across the country, it was especially prominent in Sault Ste. Marie.
The city sits on the border of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It’s common to have friends or family in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Many people also regularly travel between these places for work, school or pleasure. The new measures created a feeling of a city divided.
But Canadian and Americans aren’t the only ones being kept apart. While I understand the need of these measures, marginalized groups are also being disproportionately affected.
I was born in Argentina and moved to Canada at a young age. I’m fortunate enough to maintain Spanish as my native language, keep in contact with my family and go back to visit my home country.
The same border restrictions that split Sault Ste. Marie also stopped immigrants from being able to visit their families. Now, with loosened restrictions, there continue to be gaps that leave many people behind.
The new policy allows fully vaccinated travellers to enter Canada without quarantining for 14 days. However, the policy excludes those who received vaccines issued in many South American countries.
Growing up, it was always extra hard for me to do simple things like visit family. While my friends often had cousins in the same school or grandparents living close by, I could only see my family once a year at most. And it involved spending more than 12 hours on airplanes or at airports.
There’s privilege that comes from my white skin and “Canadian accent,” but the fact that my passport shows a foreign country of birth sometimes makes border agents question me more than average.
With the pandemic, new problems along these lines have emerged and existing ones have worsened. Those who are even more marginalized than me are living through the brunt of the consequences.
Ultimately, though, I feel cautiously optimistic about the future. Recently loosened restrictions may mean that local businesses have an opportunity to bounce back. The recent decision to open the border to vaccinated Americans is a first (albeit tiny) step in reuniting Sault Ste. Marie.
Featured graphic by Sara Mizannojehdehi.
