Families, friends, lovers meet along the border for Christmas cheer

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Lee is a teacher and is not able to take time off to quarantine had she visited her sister in the U.S. (beyond the Washington state half of Peace Arch Park; the B.C. half is closed).

“There are lots of these cross-border families making the best of it in the park,” Andrews said.

They’re able to make the best of it because of a loophole in the Treaty of Ghent, a document that finalized the end of the War of 1812 between the U.S. and the British colonies in what is now Canada.

The agreement stipulated neither country could build barriers within three metres of the park. The Canadian half was closed on June 12, but as long as the American half remains open, foot travel to and from the patch of grass cannot be prevented.

Were the Canadian government to attempt to do so, it would violate the treaty and Canada would lose parts of the country that were occupied by the Americans in the War of 1812. So as long as the American side remains open, the treaty’s loophole does, as well.

“We’re really glad for this treaty,” said Jayne Johnson, a California native who now lives in Blaine.

Johnson and her daughter, Melanie Robertson, were in fact spending the first Christmas Day itself together in 18 years. A pandemic might have forced her mom to miss being at Robertson’s wedding in person this summer, but it wasn’t going to keep mother and daughter apart on Christmas Day.

“What’s a good word to describe being able to meet here in the park?” Johnson said, considering a question posed to her. “Life-saving, maybe?”