ORCAS ISLAND, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – An international event coming up this weekend in the Salish Sea is aiming to mend cross-border tensions.
The first-ever “Hands Across the Water” flotilla from Orcas Island to B.C’s Salt Spring Island kicks off on Friday, Sept. 18, and lasts through Sunday.
The three days of festivities include fireside stories with local historians and Indigenous leaders, a soccer game, live music and more.
Event co-founder Lyle MacWilliams says it will be an opportunity for US and Canadian citizens to celebrate their relationship at the international border.
“We thought what a beautiful event it would be to have this U.S. flotilla meet a Canadian flotilla at the border with an expression of friendship, a recognition of a friendship that’s gone back for, not just for decades, but for centuries,” MacWilliams told My Bellingham Now.
It comes as the trade war and offensive rhetoric by the Trump administration has damaged Canadians’ views of the US, according to Western Washington University’s Border Policy Research Institute.
BPRI estimates that the number of passenger vehicles entering the US from Canada has dropped 22% from last year.
You can find more information and hear Emma Toscani’s conversation with the organizers of Hands Across the Water by going to the KGMI Radio tab on our website under “Afternoon News.”
