Were it not for the Covid pandemic, we would have made several trips into Canada in the past year. We regularly walk on a path where we can see the international crossing at Blaine, and if I search for a restaurant, my phone application will frequently suggest one in Canada. We have had some wonderful visits to British Columbia in the past and would love to spend a bit more time exploring close to our home. A few years ago, before the pandemic, we went with our son and his family to visit a Zoo in Vancouver that is closer to our home than the one in Seattle. We are fortunate. Our son and his family live just a couple of miles down the road from our home on this side of the border. There are a lot of families in this area who have members on both sides of the border. Before the pandemic, they were used to traveling across the border frequently and with minimum hassle. Residents of Point Roberts, Washington, have to drive through Canada to get to the mainland.

The border has eased pandemic restrictions, but there are still protocols and requirements that must be met in order to cross. At Blaine, Peace Arch Park is right on the border and it is a place where families can meet and visit without having to go through the entire border crossing process. When the weather is good there are usually many families sharing picnics and getting together in the park. Even when it is rainy or windy a few folk meet to be with family members. Last week there was a protest in the park. A group of people, from both sides of the border, met at the arch and walked from one end of the park to the other carrying signs protesting the continuing covid protocols.

Because we have not been crossing the border, I am not familiar with the issues, but I do understand that the pandemic has made it more challenging for family members to get together. We have friends who had to seek Covid testing, which is difficult to obtain in the crush of cases that have overwhelmed hospitals, in order to visit family members who live north of the border. Another family had to go through a lot of bureaucratic shuffling in order for their Canadian family members to attend a family funeral.

Border issues make the news around here far more frequently than any other place where we have lived. We have a neighbor who works for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. His job is shift work. The border is patrolled around the clock and he is sometimes assigned shifts that mean he works at night and sleeps during the day.

The Bellingham Herald, the local daily newspaper has a regular column of border issues and activities. I guess yesterday must have been a slow news day at our border because the article I read this morning is about the issue of bologna smuggling. Once, when we were waiting for a ferry to cross between Vancouver Island in Canada and the US mainland, we were asked if we had any eggs. We had our camper and we did. The agent informed us that we could not transport raw eggs across the border. We could either cook them as we waited in the parking lot or surrender them before crossing. Since we had already had our propane turned off and tagged, we gave up the two or three eggs we had. So I know about eggs, but I didn’t know about bologna.

The issue is not one of the border with Canada. It occurs on the US Mexico border. Bologna from Mexico is prohibited from entering the US because pork has the potential to bring foreign animal diseases into the country. In two separate incidents, 234 pounds of contraband bologna were recently seized at the Texas border. In one case, a 40-year-old resident of Albuquerque tried entering the US at El Paso and did not declare any meat products. His car was inspected and officials found 55 pounds of bologna hidden under a bag of chips, under the seats and in the trunk of his SUV. I guess the moral of the story is don’t hide your bologna under your chips.

In another incident a woman had 19 rolls of bologna totaling 188 pounds under the back seat, inside the duvet cover liners and hidden in her luggage. She was cited and fined $1,000. Apparently, it can be expensive to sleep with bologna.

The motivation to smuggle bologna is financial. It can be purchased in Mexico for about half of the usual price in the US. However, I wonder how successful smugglers cash out their haul. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be interested in buying bologna from the trunk of someone’s car.

I understand how people could find themselves at the border with items that cannot be brought across, but intentional smuggling is not something that makes sense to me. I think that there is a fairly high chance that one would be caught. And the rules are made to protect others from harm. Illnesses carried across the border could have devastating effects on the economy. It isn’t just covid, but diseases that affect livestock or plants can have huge impacts. I support the care that is taken to keep food supplies safe. The idea of intentionally attempting to bring a large amount of contraband across the border seems pretty stupid to me.

However, we need to find ways to make the border crossings accessible to families. We have been able to live at peace with our Canadian neighbors for a long time. So many families have members on both sides of the border. I understand the longing to be together and to gather for family events and occasions. And most of the people who are crossing the border have no intention of breaking the rules or causing harm.

Unfortunately a few folks and their baloney make life less convenient for others.