border visit november 3, 2019

Sunday November 3rd, 2019. Afternoon at Roxham Road, USA.
Arrived by 3.20 pm on a cool November day with a spattering of rain. A journalist doing a piece for 
North Country PBS was on site when we arrived.  In total 10 people crossed while we were there.

The first taxi brought six people - two men travelling separately and a family of four.  One man was french speaking and of African origin.  The other man spoke English. The family, who were from Nigeria but had been living in Philadelphia,  comprised a mother and three young boys age 2, 5 and 7 years old.  The children were very friendly and took hats and scarves. Their mother was very afraid and when one of us gave her a hug, she burst into tears.  She and her boys crossed into Canada without incident. The RCMP officer, a woman, spoke in both languages and was friendly and polite. 

Much later a second taxi brought a family of four who were from Haiti: a mother and three boys aged about 15, 10 and 8 years old.   They had very little luggage and the mother had no jacket. They all took scarves, hats and some mits. The mother  was also afraid and distressed and was happy to have a hug.    A second RCMP officer spoke to her in French and they crossed into Canada without problem. By the time we left it was dark as the clocks had gone back.