22 A Borderline Decision 1888

Today, if you walked along the international boundary between Canada and the United States of America(USA)you would walk from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. You would walk over mountains; in forests with many trees; near cows and past farms growing corn or wheat. You would walk through cities; or land owned by First Nations; along waterways and down rock cliffs. You would not see any soldiers guarding the border. Instead, in the forests you would see a six metre path with no trees, but with white markers that clearly show the border.

Since Canada is the second largest country in the world and the USA is the third largest, their international boundary is the longest in the world. Most of the boundary's 8,891 kilometres borders the two countries on land, but in some places the line is in a body of water which the two countries share.

The first border was placed in 1783. That year, the war between the Americans and the British ended. The Americans went south to the USA. The British stayed north in Canada. The two countries agreed that they needed a boundary. The war had ended in New York so the border was made between Quebec and New York State. It was at the Earth's 45th parallel. This is the place on Earth which is half way between the North Pole and the middle of the Earth, called the equator.

The two countries are very big, and there were many more kilometres of land that needed a border between them. The making of the entire boundary was started in 1888, but it was not easy. In some places, there were Canadians or Americans already living there. In other places, there was water which both countries wanted to own. It would take more than 220 years before Canada and the USA finally agreed where to place almost all the lines between them.

When they first started to make the border on the west coast of Canada, the British owned Vancouver Island and wanted to keep it. Canada and the USA agreed to draw a line between the two countries along the 49th parallel. This placed all of Vancouver Island inside of Canada. No one thought this would be a problem until the men who were marking the border got to Point Roberts.

THE BORDER BETWEEN CANADA AND THE USA IS MOSTLY UNPROTECTED

Point Roberts is a 3 km by 5 km piece of land, 35 kilometres south of Vancouver. It is attached to Canada and is not attached to the USA. All of Point Roberts is below the 49th parallel so it became part of the USA when the border was made. The few people who lived there became Americans that day even though they were separated from the rest of their country by water.

Today, there are still no roads from Point Roberts to other places in the USA. There are not many people living in Point Roberts, so there is only one school and it is very small. The school has classes for children from the ages of five years to eight years only. Although there is a school in Delta, just across the border, it is a Canadian school. The children from Point Roberts are American and cannot go there. Instead, each day the Point Roberts' children get on a school bus. They bus across the border into Canada. They drive for 40 minutes, then cross the border into Blaine, Washington, in the USA, where they go to school. Then, they travel through Canada to get home again.

The border at Point Roberts was made without problems. However, in other places there were many disagreements about where the boundary should be placed. One of the biggest fights was the Alaska boundary dispute.

In 1867, the USA bought Alaska from the Russians. Americans then owned many small islands and some of the land that bordered Canada in the north-west. Canada wanted men to mark the boundary after the sale, but the USA thought it would cost a lot of money. There were not many Americans living there, so the Americans thought it would not be a good use of American money. It was not really clear to either country where the border was.Then,the Klondike gold rush(see 1896)brought many people to the north. Canadians wanted a way to travel from the gold area to the sea, staying in Canada all the way. They wanted the boundary placed so part of what is Alaska today was marked as Canada. There were many years of fighting about this before the USA was finally given the land that the Canadians wanted.

Some mistakes were made when the men were marking the border. After the USA built a fort along the boundary in New York State, they found that the men had marked the line in the wrong place. The fort they built to keep Americans safe from Canadians was actually in Canada.

Places with water were difficult to mark. It is not possible to draw a line in water, so those boundaries had to be clearly marked on maps. If two ships run into each other, it is important to know in which country the accident happens, so that the correct laws are used.

One of the biggest problems is with people who want to bring things across the border illegally. They try to hide things so the border police do not find them. During American prohibition (see 1898), Canadians took alcohol to the USA to sell to the Americans who could not buy it in their country. Canadians often try to bring a large number of cigarettes across the border to sell because they are much cheaper to buy in the USA. In July 2005, three men were caught who had built a 110 metre tunnel under the border to try to bring the street drug, called marijuana, from Canada to the USA.

It is important that the boundary is marked well and that it stays clear for immigration, fishing, money, laws, and other reasons. At first, trees and plants grew so big that no one could see the boundary in some places and even the markers were broken. Now, there are people who have the job of always keeping the six metre border clear, and all the markers in good repair.