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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA road sign alongside the United States border road near Coutts, Alta., Thursday, March 19, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Jeff McIntosh<\/p>\n
On the south, it\u2019s Roger Horgus.<\/p>\n
Both are in their 60s but remember childhood days bounding back and forth across the invisible demarcation line to play.<\/p>\n
It was a generational thing. In 1990, National Geographic magazine profiled the two families as exemplars of amity along the world\u2019s longest undefended border.<\/p>\n
No more.<\/p>\n
In the age of U.S. President Donald Trump, with American concerns of cross-border drug traffickers and illegal newcomers, the road is set to be closed to Canucks starting this summer.<\/p>\n
When that happens, the only member of Ford\u2019s family free to cross the road will be his black-and-white border collie, Geordie.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate,\u201d Ford, 64, said in an interview on his farm just east of Coutts, Alta. \u201cWe\u2019ve enjoyed free access to the road for I guess about 80 years, way before I was born.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve always been very close to our neighbours.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, they live in Montana and that won\u2019t change \u2014 but we have this new barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horgus, 68, sits drinking coffee at the kitchen table on his farm near Sweet Grass, Mont., and nods in the direction of his nearby neighbour, whom he has known for, well, forever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we grew up, I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if some weeks every day we\u2019d run across and play. Ride bicycles, ride horses, go-karts,\u201d Horgus said.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The road closure is) ridiculous. I hate to see it because the Canadians have taken such good care of us and the road, with grading and all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Horgus said U.S. border patrol officials have told residents there has been an increase in illegal traffic, but he\u2019s seen no evidence.<\/p>\n
A silver marker on a hill overlooking Ford\u2019s farm indicates the exact location of the border. Recognizing the Treaty of 1908, it reads Canada on the north side of the marker and the United States on the south.<\/p>\n
On a recent spring day, two U.S. border patrol officers pulled over in their vehicles on Border Road to have a chat.<\/p>\n
Ford said patrols are usual. But in times past, U.S. officers would wave people through if a driver was heading across to chat with a neighbour.<\/p>\n
Soon, the one road now will be two.<\/p>\n
Ford said a virtually identical parallel gravel road will be laid down just metres away, on the Canadian side.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe roads will basically parallel each other for the full length of the road. So we\u2019ll have our road, and they\u2019ll have their road.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the border will be in the ditch,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen said the province was told last year that changes were coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were informed by Homeland Security that they were making sure that this and other areas of U.S. soil at the border were going to be enforced,\u201d Dreeshen said in an interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe obviously went through the process to make sure we were able to expedite this (road), working with the County of Warner to make sure local access for Albertans (was available) on the Canadian side of the border.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Dreeshen said $8 million has been allocated. Work is to begin in April and hopefully be completed by summer.<\/p>\n
He understands the frustration many area residents may feel, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegardless of the line on the map, you\u2019ll have farmers on both sides of the border, you\u2019ll have family friends on both sides of the border.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think obviously that will continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COUTTS \u2013 Amid the howling winds of the Sweet Grass Hills lies Border Road, a 14-kilometre ribbon of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-568821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}