OTTAWA -- When COVID-19 forced governments to close the Canada-U.S. border to non-essential travel, married couples caught on opposite sides did not realize they would be separated for months.
Lyne Beauchamp and husband Dave Teele are part of that group. Beauchamp lives in Ottawa and Teele runs a dairy farm in Ogdensburg, New York. Although it’s only an hour away, they haven’t seen each other in over 50 days.
“Our children are really, really missing their daddy, and I’m missing my husband,” says Beauchamp.
Teele has tried crossing into Canada to see his family, but has had no luck at the border.
“I’ve been denied twice just for trying,” says Teele. “They said if I do it once more I won’t be allowed in for a year.”
Beauchamp says, “it’s essential to restrict the access to the border but preventing people from seeing immediate family is very, very hard.”
Having a young family is what is making their situation even harder. They have a four-year-old boy, and a new baby girl who is only 7 months-old. Teele misses them dearly.
“I get to talk to them like this, on the computer,” says Teele. “But that’s not holding the little girl and my boy.”
“He gets to see her growing, and she’s crawling now. I have her following the phone when she’s crawling but it’s not the same thing as him being able to hold the baby. You know, some days are very, very difficult,” says Beauchamp.
They used to see each other four to five times a week, so being apart for such a long time is taking its toll. Children grow up fast, and the early years are some of the most important ones.
“He’s missing out on all these big milestones for her and it's time that we’re not gonna get back,” Beauchamp says.
Mary Sellars hasn’t seen her husband for over 90 days. She lives in Texas and he is working in Halifax right now. Both blocked from seeing each other thanks to the COVID-19 restrictions.
She says the rules for immediate families that want to cross the border aren’t clear.
“There is a lot of confusion on the law, whether we’re allowed to cross or not,” says Sellars. “The PM (Prime Minister Justin Tudeau) says immediate family can come in but then you read the article and it says it has to be essential.”
The Canada Border Services Agency writes:
Sellars started a Facebook group to help families cope with their separation. It currently has 32 members.
“I thought if I started a group, I would get some empathy that I needed so I could talk about it and not feel like I was getting on peoples nerves,” Sellars tells CTV News Ottawa.
“At the end of the day, it's to help each other out, just to know that there’s other people in the same situation, that are going through what we’re going through,” says Beauchamp.
Being apart from someone you love isn’t easy. Beauchamp and Teele know this won’t last forever, but it’s starting to feel like it will never end.
“I just miss my family,” says Teele.
