Sound It Out: Local librarians and the ArriveCAN app

We're a show built around you – our listeners.

Every other week, we bring you a segment called "Sound it Out," to broadcast your thoughts about the show and answer questions about stories we've covered.

Today, we're diving back into a conversation we had last week about crossing the border into Canada, and the dreaded ArriveCAN app.

It’s the temperamental app that visitors were required to fill out with information from vaccination status, to the addresses you were visiting in the country.

It's a piece of red tape that's contributed to a continued reduction in travel between Canada and the US.

We talked to Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Institute at Western Washington University, about what that means for the region.

You can find that original story here.

Trautman doesn't just research this stuff, she lives it.

Because of a glitch in the ArriveCAN app, Trautman was recently temporarily trapped in Point Roberts, a U.S. peninsula that juts down from Canada, but that is otherwise surrounded by water and not physically connected to the continental U.S.

She told us she was saved with thanks to some helpful library workers.

Since that story aired, the Canadian government has announced an official change of border policy. As of Saturday, Oct. 1, all travelers, regardless of citizenship, will no longer have to submit public health information through the ArriveCAN app or website, provide proof of vaccination, or wear masks on planes and trains.

Listener Lizz Roberts reached out to say that she was happy to hear Trautman talk about the “nice ladies" at the Whatcom County Library System.

Roberts is an adjunct substitute at the South Whatcom Library in Sudden Valley, and spoke to us along with Michael Cox, deputy director for the Whatcom County Library System. They talked about how the public library system keeps places like Point Roberts connected to the rest of the county on the mainland.

Roberts said that librarians are often asked to help people trying to cross the border.

"The ArriveCAN app created another piece that we had to all learn, of course," Roberts explained. "But if you talk to the folks, especially at the Blaine library, there's a stream of people coming into that library every day, looking for some kind of help, whatever it is that they need, in order to get across the border. In fact, we've heard that the border agents themselves will say, 'Go visit the Blaine Library, and they'll help you there.'"

Roberts says everyone, in Blaine, Point Roberts, and elsewhere, should be sure to check out their local library.

"Everyone needs to get to their public library. Be amazed at what's on offer," Roberts said. "We're one of those places where no matter who you are, no matter what level of society, no matter what, you're welcome at the public library."