I’ve discussed border anomalies between the United States and Canada before. Previously I focused on little areas of the U.S. separated from the rest of the country such as Point Roberts, the Northwest Angle and Alburg, Vermont. Here I give equal time to the Canadians. I’ll outline a couple of instances where citizens of that great northland country will be inconvenienced by the border instead.
St. Régis, Québec
The border between Canada and the United States follows the North 45th parallel between the St. Lawrence and Connecticut Rivers, the U.S. states of New York and Vermont. There’s a slight surveying error which I’ll mention but not elaborate upon today. However, consider N45 latitude as the straight line it forms and you’ll get the picture.
It creates the same condition as the Point Roberts example except in mirror image. If any visitors wish to drive to St. Régis, Québec from elsewhere in Canada, they need to leave Canada, enter the United States, and then drive back into Canada.
These types of situations sometimes present themselves when two nations agree upon an arbitrary straight line as a border. In this instance the St. Lawrence River blocks land access between St. Régis and the remainder of Canada.
St. Régis is part of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. So is the land immediately south and contiguous to it in the United States. I would imagine there’s probably considerably less hassle getting into St. Régis than Point Roberts (where one has to clear customs and immigration at a formal border station) even though it’s in Canada. While I’ve not been there on the ground to confirm this, I would imagine the border would be quite porous. That’s due to strong affinity relationships between members of the Akwesasne Mohawk Nation. Some arbitrary border drawn by people of European decent makes little difference to them.
Another noteworthy feature — unrelated but still interesting — is that this stranded bit of land falls surprisingly close to the tripoint between the the State of New York and the Provinces of Ontario and Québec. Time to find a boat!
Campobello Island, New Brunswick
This is an interesting border anomaly only because someone built a bridge to the island in 1962. Prior to that it was just another Canadian island in Passamaquoddy Bay. It just happened that the bridge spanned from Lubec, Maine (the easternmost point in the contiguous United States and another geo-oddity for you) and it now involves an international border crossing. In contrast, no bridge reaches Campobello Island from any other point in Canada. So once again if one wishes to drive to the island it involves a trip through the United States and back into Canada.
Ferry Access
Well, let’s put an asterisk next to this one. If you’ve ever seen my Ferries of Canada page you already know that in the summertime you can take a ferry from Campobello Island to Deer Island. Then from there take another ferry to l’Etête on mainland New Brunswick and never enter the United States.
If that sounds far-fetched, the route is actually touted both as a way to shave nearly 100 miles of driving and as a means to avoid long lineups at more popular border crossings further west.
A Roosevelt Connection
I learn a lot of non-geography information when I put together these posts. That’s one reason I like doing this. As I researched Campobello, I saw that this was where the Roosevelt family maintained a summer home for decades. This is also where Franklin Roosevelt came down with the polio that crippled him for life. However, in all fairness to Canada he probably caught it on the U.S. side of the border. He just happened to develop symptoms at Campobello.
The Roosevelt’s summer home is now a park. Interestingly it’s run by an international organization, the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission, even though it’s located wholly within Canada.
This unique arrangement was created through a formal treaty between Canada and the United States. Both countries support the park financially; both help run it and maintain it; and both provide employees in roughly equal proportions. It recognizes an important historical connection between the two countries, as a sign of cooperation and friendship.
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