Chain-link fence between B.C. and Point Roberts removed

A fence has been erected at the border between Delta, B.C., and Point Roberts, Wash.

A chain-link fence that was recently installed between B.C. and Point Roberts – to the frustration of residents living on both sides of the border – has been removed.

Daniel Boisvert, a city councillor from Delta who opposed the new barrier, confirmed the news on Thursday.

“Our great staff at the City of Delta have looked into the matter and have decided that it is in everyone’s best interests to have the fence taken down immediately, without any further delay,” Boisvert said in an email.

Staff erected the nearly two-metre-tall fence on the recommendation of the Delta Police Department, following a review of a tragic incident involving an elderly Tsawwassen man.

The senior, who suffered from dementia, wandered across the border in 2023, and was found dead days later.

Boisvert said staff acted on the recommendation without notifying council, and he had been planning to introduce a motion next week to remove the fence before the city reversed course.

Apart from taking the barrier down, staff have also updated procedures “to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” Boisvert said.

“I would also like to add that I am grateful to our U.S. neighbours for the trust and friendship we have enjoyed for decades. May that never stop,” he wrote.

The chain-link fence was set up beside Monument park, a location residents of B.C. and Washington have used as a meeting place for decades, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Boisvert previously stressed that the installation of the fence had nothing to do with concerns around cross-border crime.

“This is not an area which people are using to smuggle goods or smuggle people back and forth across the border,” Boisvert told CTV News last week.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Abigail Turner