This past week, Premier John Horgan said he was looking into the feasibility of closing British Columbia’s provincial borders to non-essential travel to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.

For months, many in smaller Interior communities have been worried about tourists visiting and possibly spreading the virus from other provinces.

Castanet hit the streets to ask: Should B.C. restrict travel into the province from within Canada?

One aspect stopping the provincial government from enforcing this is Section 6 of the Canadian Charter, which guarantees the rights of Canadians to “move to and take up residence in any province.”

The Maritime provinces have applied non-essential travel restrictions, like a mandatory 14-day self isolation period and pre-travel approval for those entering the provinces. At his press conference on Thursday, Horgan explained having similar restrictions in B.C. would be a challenge, given the province's size and multiple entry points.

“I want to put this either to rest, so that British Columbians understand we cannot do that and we're not going to do that, or there is a way to do it and we're going to work with other provinces to achieve it,” Horgan said.

“People have been talking about it for months and months and I think it's time to put it to bed.”

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