FOR COVERAGE OF SUNDAY’S PROTEST, READ HERE:
Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers are gathering to protest the ongoing provincial border closure this Sunday at noon. Two groups on either side of the provincial border will meet for what organizers are calling a peaceful protest to let the government know how they feel and call for the reopening of the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border.
In New Brunswick, people will gather on the old highway in Aulac, just past the Aulac Big Stop. In Nova Scotia, protesters will gather on the hill by the tourism bureau lighthouse.
New Brunswick organizers have created a Facebook group to communicate about the protest. In Nova Scotia, there’s a Facebook group and an event.
Cheryl Landry is helping to organize the peaceful protest on the New Brunswick side of the border on Sunday.
“This has nothing to do with masks or vaccinations,” says Landry by phone, separating the protest from others that have taken place opposing public health restrictions. “I just want my family back,” says Landry.
Landry lives in Moncton, but her family all live in Amherst, NS. She hasn’t seen them since the fall, because she “can’t afford to self-isolate for 14 days,” says Landry. She is hoping the provincial governments will re-open the border so that she can include her family in her Steady 15. Landry says she is exhausted from worrying about her daughters and granddaughters, and not being able to help and support them.
Nova Scotia organizer Tommy Everett says the protest will not interfere with traffic at the border, and the Nova Scotia RCMP have been notified about the event.
Both Landry and Everett noted that the protest is slated for the same day as the anniversary of the mass murders in Nova Scotia on April 18-19, 2020. Everett says that the protest will wrap up by 2pm, in plenty of time for everyone to mark the 2 minutes of silence being called for at 3pm, and to participate in the memorial ceremony being streamed online and held in Victoria Park, Truro.
Both organizers are calling for people to maintain social distancing, especially if they choose not to wear a mask. Masks are only mandatory outdoors in New Brunswick if two metres of social distancing cannot be maintained.
