The porous, 5,500 mile U.S.-Canadian border, as seen in Estcourt Maine in 2006, is increasingly a relic of the past. (Photo by Mathieu Belanger/Reuters.)

Securing America’s northern front

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Washington’s War on Terror is disrupting sleepy communities on the Canadian border, where some can’t buy gasoline without a passport.

By Colin Woodard — Special to GlobalPost

Published: November 25, 2009 11:43 ET
Updated: November 27, 2009 13:14 ET

SAINT STEPHEN New Brunswick – At Ferry Point, one could throw a stone across the Saint Croix River and hit Calais, Maine. And until Sept. 11, 2001, the narrow river was pretty much the only thing separating Calais from Saint Stephen, its Canadian twin.

People were born in each other’s hospitals. Their children married one another. They shared their bowling leagues, fire departments, water supplies, community centers, and swimming pools. During the War of 1812, when they were supposed to be enemies, they even shared gunpowder so that Calais’ Fourth of July fireworks display wasn’t cancelled.

“Down here on the border,” explains Saint Stephen’s Mayor Jed Purcell, “it’s all one community as far as we’re concerned.”

Much like the more famous Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border, the communities on either side of the Maine-New Brunswick border have more in common with one another — culture, customs, history, and genealogy — than with the distant capitals of their respective countries.

But over the last eight years, the imaginary line separating Americans and Canadians has turned very real, complicating cross-border trips, disrupting time-honored routines, and in some cases cutting communities off from one another. Border security has become more stringent, waiting times at crossing have grown and, since July, passports have become mandatory for adults crossing into the U.S. at land borders ...

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