CALGARY (660 NEWS) – With international border crossings shut to anyone who isn’t deemed essential, several provinces and territories are taking steps to monitor and restrict their borders.
READ MORE: Canada-U.S. border closed to all non-essential travel
Checkpoints are popping up at provincial borders as provinces try to stop the spread of COVID-19.
However, associate professor of economics at the University of Calgary, Trevor Tombe, says he doesn’t think the measures are necessary just yet.
“I’m not sure that there’s a strong case to close provincial borders to traffic,” said Tombe.
“Those people crossing the borders, they’re not crossing to go skiing. They’re crossing because, for the most part, they’re truckers transporting vital goods and supplies and equipment, food in particular, across provincial borders. Maintaining supply chains and the truck and transportation network is critical.”
Whether provinces have the legal right to shut down borders is also up for debate.
Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms allows for free movement but, given what’s happening, that may not apply to people who just want to visit friends and family or go on vacation.
“If health authorities feel that people are not staying home to the extent they should be, that’s a broader issue than border crossing specifically,” said Tombe.
“And inter-provincial trade is a federal jurisdiction, so it certainly does raise questions.”
However, potential campers travelling to popular destinations like the Kootenays is a risk of contamination – a risk Regional District of East Kootenay Board Chair Rob Gay says needs to be restricted.
Gay says it was a unanimous decision to ask British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer to close the provincial border to non-essential traffic.
“What we really notice on the landscape is the campers and we have seen that over the last three weekends. We just love the tourists, it’s a big part of our economy, but this is not the time to come to British Columbia,” said Gay.
“And we’re saying the same to British Columbians. Don’t come to the East Kootenays.”
In cases like this, avoiding areas like the Kootenays is for visitor’s safety.
“We are a rural area and our hospitals are quite rural so we don’t have a lot of equipment like a larger city would have.”