Isolated Canadian islanders worried by tighter US border

Residents of Canada's Campobello Island cross into the United States all the time, and they don't have any choice in the matter. For most of the year, it's the only way they can get to the rest of their country.

A short bridge ties the 10-milelong island to Lubec, Maine, at the eastern tip of the United States. For 10 months of the year, the bridge and an hourlong drive through Maine to New Brunswick is the only way for Campobello's 1,200 year-round residents to reach the rest of Canada. It's also the only way to a gas station, movie theater, or hospital.

Anything the islanders can't get or do on their quiet, forested bit of land requires international travel. But as the United States tightens its borders, Campobello Islanders' are feeling the pinch. Islanders are particularly concerned about US plans to require all persons driving into the US from Canada to have a passport as of Dec. 31, 2007, rather than just a photo ID, as has been the case for decades.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, crossing the border has become steadily more difficult, raising concerns among Campobello residents that, at the drop of a hat, they could find themselves cut off from the rest of the world.

"Before 9/11, the bridge was just a way to get across the water," says resident Robert Hooper, a real-estate agent. "Now we're always wondering, if something happens and the US closes the border up, what are we supposed to do?"

For generations, residents of Campobello, Lubec, and other communities on the US's easternmost frontier hardly paid a thought to the border. The ease with which they crossed between the two countries meant Canadians and Americans dated and married one another, and gave birth to their children in one another's hospitals. Their fire departments responded to each other's emergencies.

"We do have a store here now, so a lot of people buy their food here," says resident Mackie Green, who takes tourists out to see the fin, right, and humpback whales that feed along Campobello's rocky, tide-swept shores in summer. "But there are brands you get used to that can only be found on one side or the other, and since you have to go over for gas anyway, you might as well pick up something."

Now, not only will islanders one day need a passport to drive off the island – passports are required for air and sea crossings even sooner, starting Dec. 31, 2006 – so will anyone else wishing to visit their island.

"Consider the sports leagues in the schools," says Eric Allaby, who represents Campobello and two neighboring islands in the provincial legislature. "Teams from the other schools couldn't come to Campobello unless every child has a passport, even kids from Lubec," who currently play them all the time.

Mr. Allaby rattles off other examples: Every Canadian civil servant, transportation worker, postman, mechanic, or appliance repairman with business on Campobello would need a passport, a C$87 (US $77) expense for an adult. "Islanders would need a passport for virtually everything they did," he adds.

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