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ST. JOHN S, N.L. - On Friday morning, the car belonging to the president of a group of French islands drove five metres into Fortune, N.L., and then promptly reversed back onto the ferry it came from.
The ferry that travels between the town of Fortune, N.L., and the French overseas territory of St-Pierre-Miquelon is shown in Fortune, N.L., on Friday, April 16, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Travis Parsons MANDATORY CREDIT
ST. JOHN S, N.L. - On Friday morning, the car belonging to the president of a group of French islands drove five metres into Fortune, N.L., and then promptly reversed back onto the ferry it came from.
Pandemic border restrictions have severed ties and left families stranded between the two communities.
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There s now a much easier way to get to St-Pierre-Miquelon, but ongoing border restrictions mean nobody s allowed in or out.(Jeremy Eaton/CBC)
Rita Thornhill watches the ferry pull into Fortune s wharf for the first time in months, the boat filled with passengers who, restricted by federal law, can t set foot on Newfoundland shore.
Her fiancé and partner of 10 years isn t on it, though, and hasn t been for over a year.
Coronavirus, still a novelty when the two last shared a hug, hadn t yet closed the crossing between Newfoundland and St-Pierre-Miquelon, a territory of France whose primary link to the greater world hospitals, medical specialists, an international airport lies just across the Atlantic and beyond an international border.
SAINT JOHN, N.B. There are less than two weeks to go until the Atlantic bubble is expected to be back and residents can again travel between provincial borders without needing to self-isolate. But there s another place pitching for a place in the bubble and for their international border to reopen. The request to join the Atlantic bubble has come from the president of St. Pierre and Miquelon, said Chris Sheppard, the executive director of theLegendary Coasts of Eastern Newfoundland. They put a request to their liaison between St. Pierre and Miquelon and France to ask this. St. Pierre and Miquelon are islands just off of the coast of Newfoundland that still belong to France. A 90-minute ferry ride from the small community of Fortune takes you to Europe.