Living here, but not a livyer: How N.L.'s ban on outsiders is raising sharp questions
Many likely won't see their vacation homes this summer
Brian Shell and his wife have been coming to the province every year for the past 18 years — sometimes spending as little as a few weeks at their vacation home in Salvage, on the Eastport Peninsula, and sometimes as much as five months in the coastal community.
This year, it likely won't even be one day.
"It's really super-disappointing," Shell told CBC News from his home in Toronto.
The province closed its borders to most travellers on Monday, with some exceptions. Vacationers aren't among them, though, leaving people like Shell and his wife banned from entering Newfoundland and Labrador.
Shell said he is sympathetic to the situation and understands public health officials are trying to limit the spread of COVID-19.
But he told CBC News on Monday that even though he and his wife aren't residents, they feel they're no different from people who live in the province, travel outside it for work and are required to self-isolate upon re-entry.
"Treating us as if we are a tourist, and mobile and incapable of safely self-isolating is really an overreach by the ministry," said Shell, a lawyer.
Who's a resident?
Even though its number of active caseloads has been declining for almost a month, Newfoundland and Labrador has been imposing strict rules on mobility. Its moves to limit who can enter the province have raised questions about whether they conflict with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and to what extent they even question someone's identity in Newfoundland and Labrador.
On Tuesday in the House of Assembly, the Liberals expanded the power of police to enforce public health orders, including a ban on out-of-province tourists, allowing officers to detain and take people to the border if they're not supposed to be in the province.
Angus Taylor of Victoria argues he has a solid claim to identity as a resident of Newfoundland and Labrador, because he owns a property in English Harbour, Trinity Bay, and has lived in it for up to six months at a time for the last 16 years.
Taylor compares his situation to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who live in the province in the summer — and have an MCP card, required to gain entry under government's order — but head to places like Florida for the rest of the year.
"Does that make them any more a resident than I am?" he told CBC Radio's On The Go. "I'm not a tourist. I call myself a resident."
Taylor says the province made the right move, no matter how difficult that has been on many outside its borders. Still, he believes he has a right to be in Newfoundland and Labrador, although he's still weighing the risk of travelling.
"The self-isolation I have absolutely no problem with. In fact, I would probably do it even if it wasn't required," he said.
"There's that risk part of it. My wife and I have to put that in balance, and say, 'Is this a risk we want to take?' and so, we're not there yet."
Waiting it out
Meanwhile, some seasonal homeowners are also seasonal business owners. Jane Pitfield lives in Fort-Coulonge, Que., but has owned a home in Gaultois since 2008, and has owned and operated the Gaultois Inn since 2011.
Pitfield told CBC Radio's Newfoundland Morning the inn generally has its seasonal opening on Mother's Day weekend, and runs until mid-November.
Now, she's not so sure, but she said she is fine waiting things out.
"I think it's the right thing to be doing, so I'm not thinking so much about the inconvenience of not operating my business. I'm very anxious to protect Gaultois," Pitfield said.
Gaultois — an island community off Newfoundland's south coast — has a small, older population.
"When we're so isolated and rural I think it's about saving lives, and we just have to remember that this spring is like no other that we have experienced," she said.
With files from Anthony Germain and Newfoundland Morning
