As officials work to end border shutdown, locals with homes in Canada grow weary
By Jerry Zremski
News Washington Bureau Chief
Updated
Gail and Jerry Tiedemann of Kenmore have owned a cottage in Pleasant Beach in Fort Erie, Ont., for 25 years but have been prevented from going there the past year because the U.S.-Canada border has been closed due to the pandemic.
Gail and Jerry Tiedemann have owned a summer place at Canada's Pleasant Beach, only 20 miles from their Kenmore home, for a quarter century – and they're used to having friends over, not raccoons.
"I remember those first weeks thinking: OK, well, we'll just give it a couple of weeks, and it's going to be OK; this can't last that long," Elizabeth Switzer said. "And then it just kept going and going and going."
Elizabeth Switzer, who has been unable to see her fiance in person for almost a year due to the U.S.-Canada border closure, talks about the difficulties of being in a forced long-distance relationship and rescheduling her wedding to Paul, a Canadian citizen in a PhD program at McMasters University in Hamilton, Ont. which would be less than an hour drive away under normal circumstances.
Gail and Jerry Tiedemann of Kenmore have owned a cottage in Pleasant Beach in Fort Erie, Ont., for 25 years but have been prevented from going there the past year because the U.S.-Canada border has been closed due to the pandemic.
