Symmetry not guaranteed on border policy

WASHINGTON — Just because Canada and the United States worked closely together to restrict travel across their shared border doesn't mean they were always going to move in lockstep when the time came to reopen it, Ottawa's envoy to Washington said Friday.

There's been "enormous" co-ordination and information shared between the two regarding the border since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador to the U.S.

"But co-ordination doesn't mean you're going to do exactly the same thing," Hillman told a Wilson Center panel discussion alongside interim U.S. counterpart Arnold Chacón.

It was Hillman's first public appearance since the U.S. confirmed Wednesday it would maintain its travel restrictions on non-essential visitors from Canada for at least another 30 days.
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