The International Peace Garden that straddles the Canada-United States border has for more than 90 years been a quiet, pastoral place to celebrate friendship between the two countries.
People can stroll through flower gardens and see displays about international co-operation, often without noticing that they’ve crossed the border between Manitoba and North Dakota several times.
With U.S. President Donald Trump’s talk of imposing tariffs on Canada and making it the 51st state, some people are feeling a bit less neighbourly and saying they have no plans to visit this year.
“I have received strong emails from individuals in our local communities and cannot fault them for feeling the way they do,” Tim Chapman, the garden’s chief executive officer, wrote in a recent message to supporters.
In an interview, Chapman said the emails came from Canadians dismayed at rhetoric from south of the border.
The garden is a non-profit operation that raises money from admission fees, private donations and regular funding from state and provincial governments and Parks Canada.
It is a non-political place, stressed Chapman, that honours the people of both countries, not politicians or parties.
“We really don’t have any control over the political rhetoric that is obviously causing some feelings, but we can continue … to serve as an example of what friendly neighbours are,” he said.
The garden sits right on the border. A small creek that runs through the middle of the park, along with a cairn in one area, are the only real signs of any boundary. Roughly 35,000 people visit a year and the garden regularly hosts small conferences with attendees from the two countries.
One of the park’s displays contains damaged girders from the World Trade Center targeted in the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001. The display is, in part, a tribute to Canada’s support following the attack.
Visitors don’t have to formally enter the other country through a border crossing. The park entrance and driveway is on a short stretch of highway between Canada and U.S. customs offices. People only have to show identification to their home customs office after leaving the garden.
The mayor of Boissevain-Morton, a community on the Canadian side of the border, said she expects the garden will be hit by a lack of visitors because many have told her they’re not going to travel to the U.S. this year.
“If you’re not going across the line, what is the chance of going to the peace garden? “Judy Swanson asked.
“Usually you go there, you tour the garden and then you go across the border, either north or south.”
Chapman said that since he reached out to supporters, people on both sides of the border have responded positively and expressed a desire to visit.
“In one email that an individual sent … she just detailed that the garden is more important than ever — a place without borders where, for a few hours, life is as it’s supposed to be: free.’”
