#stanstead

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been criticized for a bizarre stunt during an official visit to the U.S.-Canada border.

On a trip to Derby, Vermont, in January following the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, ICE Barbie Noem visited a library which is directly bisected by the border with Quebec.

A line of black tape on the floor of a reading room of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House marks the spot where Derby ends, and Stanstead, Quebec, begins.

Noem reportedly stepped up to the tape and said, with a grin, “U.S.A. No. 1,” and then crossed the line into Canada and said, “The 51st state.”

“She did it at least three times and was very clear in saying, ‘U.S.A. No. 1,’ and didn’t even say ‘Canada.’ Just, ‘The 51st state’,” said Deborah Bishop, the library’s executive director, who is Canadian, speaking to the Boston Globe.

Noem’s behavior mirrors President Trump’s increasingly aggressive rhetoric towards the U.S.‘s northern neighbor.

The president has repeatedly threatened that he would like to annex the country, turn it into the 51st state and take its vast mineral resources.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught on a hot mic in February warning business leaders that Trump is serious about this plan.

The rhetoric took a more literal step forward on Monday as Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, prompting a retaliatory response from Trudeau.

Library volunteer Kathy Converse, who is a U.S. citizen, witnessed Noem’s performance which she said made her angry.

“Politics should not come into this, you know?” she said.

“I see the library as a little Switzerland,” said another volunteer, Sylvie Boudreau, speaking to the Globe. “Kind of a little neutral place, where we welcome.”

Stanstead’s Mayor Jody Stone said he was “disappointed to see somebody at such a high level of government using words like that... It’s kind of insulting to threaten your friends.”

The backlash has continued on social media. “This is not patriotism. It is an idiotic jingoism, unworthy of a great country,” tweeted Jay Nordlinger, a senior editor at conservative magazine National Review.

“Insulting, shameful, and unprofessional. But most of all... childish,” added Roland Paris, an international affairs professor at the University of Ottawa.

Leyland Cecco at The Guardian:

There is only one building in North America, probably in the world, where one can browse bestsellers and children’s books by crossing an international border and then sit for an amateur theatre troupe in a regal opera house with each half of your body in two different countries. Standing near the Tomifobia River, a rushing body of water swollen from the spring melt, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border of Canada and the US. Constructed more than a century ago as a deliberate rebuttal to borders and division, the imposing building split between Quebec and Vermont has become a beloved and fiercely protected part of communities in both countries. But in recent months, the library has become the latest casualty in the trans-border feud that has strained relations between the two nations. Peter Lépine began volunteering at the library 15 years ago after moving from Montreal, drawn to the creaky warren of rooms, each constructed from different types of wood. “I’ve loved it,” he says on an April morning. “I love books, I love the people and I love the quiet. And today, mercifully, it’s quiet.” For weeks, curious onlookers, outraged supporters and gaggles of media have descended on both Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, after US officials announced the main entrance to the library, which sits in Vermont, would soon be cut off to Canadians. They cited drug traffickers and smugglers “exploiting” the accessibility and said the closure meant “we are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans” without providing evidence. Under the new rules which go into effect in October, Canadians will need to go through a formal border crossing before entering the library. The news, met with disbelief from patrons and staff, followed a closely watched visit by the US secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, in March. Touring the library, Noem said “USA number one!” and then hopped over the black tape separating the two countries and said “51st state” when she landed in Canada. She repeated the joke – echoing Donald Trump’s recent fixation on annexing Canada – three times. “It was incredibly disrespectful,” said Lépine. “There’s no other way to describe it. And it really hurt.”

Since the start of his second term, Trump has questioned Canada’s viability as a nation, suggesting that it could become the 51st American state, and deriding the outgoing prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as a “governor”. He has also called the border an “imaginary line” and threatened to use economic force to crush Canada’s economy. The political theatre comes in stark contrast to a building meant to celebrate friendship and cooperation. Opened in 1904, before rules took effect that barred trans-border structures, the library and opera house were gifted by Martha Stewart Haskell, a Canadian philanthropist, and her son Horace. The aim was to gift something artistic to citizens of both countries for generations to come. When finished, the building housed a 500-seat opera house, complete with a dazzling chandelier and a curtain painted to resemble Venice’s grand canal – original items still in use today. Like the library below, the worn black tape running through the opera marks the international border.

[...] In recent days, US border officials installed a sign that warned only library card holders could cross and access the main entrance. Anyone else “will be arrested and face prosecution” at the hands of US officials. [...] Currently, to enter the library, Canadians must trek over mats placed atop a muddy lawn, following a set of arrows that lead the building’s former emergency exit. But the library’s management envisioned an accessible entrance along with sidewalks and a larger parking lot. “I have the resources to help because of the support of American and Canadian readers. The least I could do is give back,” Penny said. “Plus, it’s like giving the finger to the current administration: you close one door, we will open another one.” At the Haskell, patrons returning books throughout the morning all cite the shared sense of history, culture and values that have long undergirded the friendship between the two nations.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House (Bibliothèque et salle d'opéra Haskell)-- which straddles Derby Line, Vermont, USA and Stanstead, Québec, Canada-- is caught between the crosshairs of Trump’s insane feud with Canada, as the Canadian entrance is being cut off.

See Also:

Beebe, Quebec