Bellingham, Wash., council pens letter to B.C. cities amid cross-border tensions

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: May 27, 2025 8:44 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The politician and assembly successful an American city have penned a missive expressing a "commitment" to their "connection" with Canada amid ongoing tensions betwixt the neighbouring countries. 

Bellingham, Wash., has agelong been a fashionable tourism destination for British Columbians looking to bash a small buying southbound of the border, with the municipality of astir 90,000 radical located 30 kilometres southbound of the border.

But since U.S. President Donald Trump started threatening and imposing tariffs connected Canada and travellers person reported being detained astatine the border, there's been a notable driblet successful visitors heading southbound successful caller months, according to Statistics Canada. 

Recent information from borderline crossings successful B.C.'s Lower Mainland shows the fig of vehicles with B.C. licence plates heading southbound successful April 2025, compared to the erstwhile April, is down 51 per cent.

Now, a letter signed by Bellingham metropolis council  president Hollie Huthman and Mayor Kim Lund says the metropolis hopes the "peaceful partnership" betwixt Canada and Bellingham volition continue. 

"Though we unrecorded successful abstracted nations, we stock longstanding, collaborative relationships with the Indigenous communities that person lived successful harmony with the onshore and the h2o for thousands of years," the missive reads in part.

"We stock the aforesaid work for the families who person travel to beryllium connected generations of uninterrupted, cross-border proscription and commerce."

Huthman told CBC News that she, herself, is the proprietor of a unrecorded euphony venue called the Shakedown, and that she was being told by Canadians that they couldn't sojourn close now, adjacent though they loved her place.

"The quality of bands to transverse the borderline and that taste speech of euphony — it's go adjacent harder," she said. "It was already hard, and it's go harder. And that's truly unfortunate."

WATCH | U.S. pistillate asks for cross-border compassion: 

At an April 28 Bellingham assembly meeting, Coun. Michael Lilliquist said the intent of the missive is not to outline the economical value of Canada. 

"It's a much idiosyncratic connection to chap jurisdictions, benignant of conscionable renewing astatine a much taste and idiosyncratic level that we're inactive your neighbours, we inactive worth you, we inactive privation to enactment with you," helium said.

According to a spokesperson for the City of Bellingham, the missive was sent to 9 Lower Mainland communities connected May 21. 

Langley politician unconvinced

Langley Township Mayor Eric Woodward said that portion helium hasn't received the missive arsenic of yet, he understands wherefore Washington authorities communities would beryllium trying to reaffirm the narration betwixt the authorities and the province. 

"Canadians person been crossing the borderline for generations, supporting American businesses and participating successful 1 of the largest unfastened borders successful the world," helium said. 

But helium said the connection doesn't talk to him connected a idiosyncratic level. 

"My idiosyncratic sentiment is that the American authorities and the American constitution fundamentally decided that it wants to alteration the quality of the relationship."

Woodward said he, similar galore different Canadians, is readying to walk his wealth and abrogation clip successful Canada. 

Bellingham isn't the archetypal jurisdiction to admit the hostility and anticipation Canadians volition instrumentality to American travel; successful mid-April, California Governor Gavin Newsom urged Canadians to sojourn the Golden State's sandy beaches and vino country.

Point Roberts, Wash., has appealed to B.C.'s humanity for enactment — if a commercialized warfare gets retired of hand, leaders aren't definite the assemblage would survive. 

But Woodward said Bellingham should look elsewhere for support. 

"Bellingham should perchance look to Montana and possibly Oregon for those radical to travel up and enactment them, and not Canada."