AMHERST, N.S. – A pedestrian recently learned not everyone is being allowed into New Brunswick during that province’s lockdown of its provincial borders.
A lone male pedestrian was stopped and turned back by Public Safety officials staffing the checkpoint at Aulac, N.B., on April 2. The person then left the road and went into a wooded area by the westbound lane of the Trans-Canada Highway.
“An individual attempting to enter New Brunswick at the Aulac entry point was refused entry by Department of Public Safety officers. This individual had no further contact with officers,” Shawn Berry, from the Department of Public Safety in New Brunswick, said in an email to the Amherst News. “All unnecessary travel to New Brunswick is prohibited.”
It’s unknown what happened to the man after he left the road.
John Morris is a freelance photographer who happened to be passing through the checkpoint at the time.
“He was walking on the highway into New Brunswick. He walked up to the checkpoint, went past the RCMP cruiser and spoke to two people there. It looked like they turned him around because he started walking back toward Nova Scotia,” Morris said. “He got about 100 metres down the road when he darted over (the road) and headed into the woods.”
Morris said one person went looking for him but he is not sure if he was taken into custody. Berry said there was no further contact with the individual.
Berry said New Brunswick recognizes some travel between the provinces is necessary, including residents from other provinces who enter New Brunswick to work and to receive medical treatment, as is entry for child custody/access purposes and commercial vehicles entering to deliver goods and New Brunswick residents returning home.
“Similarly, residents from other provinces seeking to drive through New Brunswick to return home are allowed to do so,” Berry said.
On Monday, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said some visitors to the province have been turned away.
“Some have not been let in,” the premier said during a daily briefing with Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang.
“If you’re coming in you have to have a purpose to come in.”
The premier said there may seem to be a lot of vehicles with out-of-province plates entering at Fort Lawrence, but they have a purpose including parents picking up children at Nova Scotia colleges and universities or going to and from work.
“A couple of weeks ago we issued an order for those students to go home and their parents are coming to get them,” McNeil said. “There are very few airlines flying these days in and out of the province.”
He said the ones coming to Nova Scotia, have a reason or they’re being sent back.
Progressive Conservative leader Tim Houston was surprised people had been turned away.
“That was something I was unaware of,” Houston said. “That was a new one for me. I’d like to know the circumstances because that would start to inform us what are the parameters and the circumstances you can get turned away.”
Houston understands there are a lot of Nova Scotians living elsewhere in Canada, some of whom have elderly parents living here. He understands they would desire to come home to be with their parents, but wonders if they have enough information on what self-isolation means.
He things it would also ease some concerns of Nova Scotians if the premier were to give examples of why people were denied entry.
