With border still closed, here’s what Inslee is doing to keep Point Roberts’ grocery open
Gov. Jay Inslee announced $100,000 from the state’s reserve funds will be used to help ensure the only grocery store in isolated Point Roberts will remain open despite the continued closure of the U.S.-Canada border due to COVID-19.
“The Point Roberts community has been isolated due to the closure throughout the pandemic, and while all Washington communities have been impacted, the situation up there is unique,” Inslee said in a news release announcing the move. “This action is a small bridge to support the entire community and retain a critical employer.
“I urge the U.S. and Canadian governments to take rapid and meaningful steps to reopen travel across the U.S.-Canada land border, consistent with public health guidelines.”
The $100,000 will come from the state’s Strategic Reserve Funds and will be provided to the Point Roberts International Marketplace, which is the only grocery store in the small Whatcom County enclave community located at the tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula south of Vancouver, B.C.
Because of the border closure, Point Roberts has been cut off from the rest of Whatcom County because of its geographic location, which requires two border crossings in each direction to travel by land. With the border closed to non-essential travel as the U.S. and Canada wrestle with the coronavirus pandemic, that has been impossible.
The U.S. and Canada first agreed to close the border for a month March 21, 2020, in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. The closure has since been extended 15 times, a month at a time, and is now scheduled to expire July 21.
Due to the closure, the Point Roberts International Marketplace announced they might be forced to close on July 15.
It is hoped that the funds Inslee announced Tuesday, June 29, which should complement federal funding provided through the American Rescue Plan act and other COVID-19 relief legislation, that the grocery store will be able to retain its 10 employees and even add three more jobs when the border reopens and business rebounds, the release states.
“Although I am extremely discouraged that we haven’t made any progress on the border re-opening, I was so grateful and relieved to hear from Gov. Inslee this morning; these funds will allow us to continue serving our community,” Ali Hayton, owner of the Point Roberts International Marketplace, said in the release. “We have been so encouraged by his outreach, especially these last few weeks, and while we know he has no control over the border, we are hopeful that his continued advocacy will spur some change in Washington, D.C.”
Inslee is planning to visit Point Roberts on July 9, according to the release, and will discuss the issues impacting the community.
Earlier this month, Inslee sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas asking for a full or partial reopening of the border to help individuals and communities impacted by the closure. Inslee also sent letters to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in August 2020 and February advocating for the residents of Point Roberts.
“And while these funds help stop the hemorrhaging at my business, the entire business community as well as every resident of Point Roberts needs to see an exemption at Boundary Bay so that we can ‘reopen’ along with the rest of Washington state,” Hayton said.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 2:12 PM with the headline "With border still closed, here’s what Inslee is doing to keep Point Roberts’ grocery open."
