The first weekend after Roxham closed

On Friday March 24th, with only a few hours between the announcement of the new protocol during the day, and the closure of Roxham Road at midnight that same day, refugees were scrambling to make it to the border in time. According to our contacts in the US, they were pleading with taxi drivers at Plattsburgh bus station to take them to Roxham Road before it closed. As midnight approached, some who had not crossed yet left their suitcases behind just so they could read Canadian soil before it was too late.

On Saturday March 25th, we were at the Canadian side of Roxham Road during the time that taxis would arrive taking people from the 3pm bus arrival at Plattsburgh. During our time there,  7 people arrived.

On Sunday March 26th, during the same time period, 20 people arrived, some hugging the taxi driver, thanking him for having brought them. Only 'unofficial' taxis were still driving people to Roxham Road, as the registered taxi drivers knew the border was now closed to all but those meeting the exceptions to the STCA (for more info about the STCA exceptions, go HERE). The people who arrived were mostly Spanish speaking, probably from South-American countries, 3 families, a young couple from Venezuela, and 6 single young men.

On Monday March 27th, we went to the border for the 6pm bus arrival in Plattsburgh, only to find that this bus had been cancelled on this day and for the rest of the week. Clearly the message was starting to get through. An RCMP officer told us only 6 people had arrived during the day shift at Roxham Road. When looking at the scraps of paper people had thrown away before entering the RCMP building, we found a folded-up drawing with well-wishes that must have been given to a child whose family was lucky enough to still be able to cross at Roxham. As we looked at it, we felt deeply sad about Canada having followed so many Western countries in becoming a 'fortress Canada' instead of welcoming refugees and giving them a safe new home.