Thinking about Crossing the Border? Latest info for July 14, 2020

36 Canada-U.S. border crossings will now have onsite employees from the Public Health Agency of Canada screening travelers, including right here in Charlotte County at the St. Stephen international border.  Public Health officials will be onsite to fortify the screening process for COVID-19, as the number of cases in the US continues to increase and international border traffic is on the rise. Woodstock and Edmundston will also now have Public Health officers at their international borders. 

Atlantic Bubble travelers who must make a flight connection through provinces like Ontario and Quebec en route to New Brunswick are allowed to travel through an airport outside of the Atlantic Bubble, including changing planes, and can spend up to a single night outside of the Atlantic region without being required to self-isolate upon entering New Brunswick. Detailed travel information on the Atlantic bubble is on the government of New Brunswick's website.

The Grand Opening of Repeat Boutique, a second-hand clothing and household goods store on Main Street in Blacks Harbour, took place over the weekend. Repeat Boutique is more than just a thrift shop; it's a socially-conscious project that gives back to the community in more ways than one.  

"Our primary goal is to find meaningful community employment for job seekers who face barriers and intellectual disabilities in the area Laura Lee Carrier, Executive Director of the Eastern Charlotte Association of Community Living.

Repeat Boutique is a partnership between Eastern Charlotte Association of Community Living and the St. George & Area Food Bank. Along with providing jobs for people living with intellectual disabilities in the area, the boutique will also help raise money for the St. George & Area Food Bank. Clients of the food bank will also be given free gift cards so that they can shop for clothing and household items.

"When individuals come to the food bank, they are not afraid to tell us when they need something. I recently gave a gift certificate to client for Repeat Boutique whose work boots were worn out and needed a new pair of sneakers," said Sarah Norman, Director of the St. George & Area Food Bank.

Premier Blaine Higgs and other government leaders, including Minister of Justice Andrea Anderson-Mason met with First Nations chiefs on Thursday to once again discuss systemic racism in New Brunwick's policing and justice system. I sat down with Anderson-Mason in St. George over the weekend to get her perspective on how the meeting went and what meaningful first steps need to be taken in the province's justice system.

"There's certainly a lot that we need to do," said Anderson-Mason. "We have extreme vacancies in our system. We are looking to put Indigenous court workers into our court system. We know that we have no First Nations judges at this time or Crown Prosecutors. We have to take a step back and ask, 'Why is this happening?'"

Finally, on Friday, a body that had washed up on the beach in Robbinston, Maine earlier in the week was identified as St. Andrews resident Richard Warnell. A missing person report had been filed shortly after Canada Day when Warnell had not been seen by his friends at his regular local hangouts in St. Andrews. An investigation into the cause of death is still ongoing, although authorities do not believe he died in United States.