For over a century, a U.S.-Canada cross-border library used a single entrance. Now, the U.S. says Canadians must build their own.
On Monday, a century-old tradition that allowed Canadians and Americans to freely access the front entrance of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House that straddles Vermont and Quebec will come to an end.
Canadian members used to walk down the approximately 70 feet of American sidewalk with their identifying documents, such as a passport or license, and enter through the library's main entrance, which sits on the Vermont side. But last week, U.S. authorities said that this easy access will end, with most Canadians needing to enter through a separate entrance on Canada's side.
"It's been in effect for 104 years, and suddenly, with this new administration, it's not," said Sonia De Paoli, 71, a Canadian who moved to the area from Montreal after she retired. De Paoli joined the library's board of trustees — consisting of four Americans and three Canadians — a few years ago to help this "unique" private organization.
Beginning Monday, Canadians with proof of library membership will still be able to use the front entrance on the Vermont side, but nonmembers will need to enter through the Canadian side, the library said.
But by Oct. 1, all Canadians, including members, will be required to use the entrance on Canada's side — although once inside the library Canadians and Americans can still freely intermingle.
The private library was founded in 1901 between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, to encourage cooperation between the border towns. The historic building, which also houses a 400-seat opera house, has thick tape running throughout its interior, denoting where the U.S. border ends and the Canadian one begins.
De Paoli said the U.S. government's unilateral decision to shut Canadians' access to the front door has left the community not feeling very good. She said some members were writing to the library and saying, "Why do we have to use the back door? We've been doing this forever, why do we have to do this?"
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Reuters that the U.S. decision was in response to drug trafficking.
"Drug traffickers and smugglers were exploiting the fact that Canadians could use the U.S. entrance without going through customs. We are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans," the statement said.
CBS News has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for further information on numbers relating to drug trafficking and smuggling near the library. A CBP spokesperson confirmed to the Associated Press that it had implemented the move to restrict Canadians from the Vermont entrance.
De Paoli said in the years since she'd lived in the Stanstead area, the "world had changed" very much, but library trustees and staff had regular meetings with CBP and Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police to ensure knowledge of any new border directives.
There haven't been any custom or trafficking incidents involving library visitors of which the trustees have been aware, De Paoli said. And she noted they were even able to keep access to the front entrance open for both nations during World War I and World War II.
"We do love our neighbors," said De Paoli, adding that American library members are just as upset and frustrated by the news as their Canadian counterparts.
The library now needs to build out the new Canadian entrance to code — a blow to a not-for-profit organization that has existed on a limited endowment since 1908. Membership is free, says De Paoli, as are many of the other events it hosts for the rural communities surrounding the historic building. Other times, they will charge a few dollars to attend the opera or a local film festival.
"For our film festivals, tickets are $5. We charge $1 for popcorn," De Paoli said, adding the surrounding communities are mostly rural farming areas.
To build out the Canadian entrance, the Haskell has to create a parking lot with reduced mobility spots, install reduced mobility access ramps and entrances, and build another proper building entrance to the facility.
The library will comply with the new directive, but said in a statement, "We refuse to let a border divide what history has built together."
Costs are expected to top 100,000 Canadian dollars, De Paoli said. So far, they've raised more than half the funds through a GoFundMe page, and De Paoli said she has "been in tears seeing donations from the communities of $5, $10, $50 from people who don't have much money but are doing it because they care."
