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BC family whose move was stopped by COVID border closure back on the road

Maple Ridge’s Kaplan family will arrive at their new home in Nova Scotia on Wednesday
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David and Julie Kaplan with their children Estelle and Justin. (Special to The News)

A Maple Ridge family whose cross-country migration was interrupted by pandemic border closures is back on the road Wednesday morning.

David Kaplan said his family expects to be at their new home in Nova Scotia by about 2 p.m. Pacific Time.

“We’re on our way,” he told Black Press in a phone interview, with a background of road noise and optimism.

David and Julie Kaplan left Maple Ridge, their home for the past six years, on May 2. They have been driving with their two young children to their newly purchased house in Windsor Forks, Nova Scotia.

COVID-19’s third wave broke on Nova Scotia, causing record-setting case counts while the Kaplans were on the road, and the border was closed. The family was turned back at the New Brunswick border on Monday, and camped for two nights in Quebec. They are pulling a camping trailer and a cargo trailer.

READ ALSO: COVID-19 border closure stops B.C. family’s cross-country move

After tears, media interviews, calls to politicians and a formal appeal to the Nova Scotia government, they received an exemption on Tuesday afternoon.

They also received an apology for their inconvenience.

The exemption allows them to continue their journey to their new two-acre property, but not to stop in New Brunswick longer than gassing up.

READ ALSO: Trudeau rejects Alberta cabinet minister accusation PM wants COVID-19 health disaster

So they waited until Wednesday morning, and after a two-day delay got an early start for the final 750 kilometers of their cross-Canada odyssey.

“It’s all turned out OK,” said David. “We’re really glad to have it all sorted out and be on our way.”


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Neil Corbett

About the Author: Neil Corbett

I have been a journalist for more than 30 years, the past decade with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows News.
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