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Canadian Border Closure Extended To Mid August

The United States government is extending the closure of the Canadian border for nonessential travel until August twenty-first.

The announcement today came two days after the Canadian government announced it would begin letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens into Canada on August 9th, and visitors from the rest of the world on September 7th.

Wednesday, U.S. Senators Jon Tester and Steve Daines called on D.H.S. to fully re-open the border with Canada. Montana shares a 545 mile border with Canada and is home to many border towns whose economies rely on Canadian trade and commerce.

At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 both the U.S. and Canadian governments restricted non-essential travel by land between the two countries, although Canadians have been able to fly into the United States.

Until the Canadian decision on Monday, the two governments had extended the closure every month.

Kay Erickson has been working in broadcasting in Billings for more than 20 years. She spent well over a decade as news assignment editor at KTVQ-TV before joining the staff at YPR. She is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, with a degree in broadcast journalism. Shortly after graduation she worked in Great Falls where she was one of the first female sports anchor and reporter in Montana.