'We’re so upset with this I’m ashamed to be Canadian': Border couple sees no satisfaction in the easing of restrictions

Windsor, Ont. -

A cross-border couple has already gone to great lengths just to get married and they don’t know when they’ll be able to start a life together.

“They haven’t learned not to separate families. They’re still doing this,” says Joanna Hutz of Windsor.

Last spring, Hutz and her American husband were planning to get married in Jamaica but didn’t because of COVID-19.

Instead, Hutz flew from Toronto to Detroit and the two tied the knot later that summer.

“I can’t believe that a whole year has gone by and absolutely nothing has changed,” says Hutz.

“Two shots being fully vaccinated that’s as good as it gets. That’s all we’ve got,” she says.

Yet it still won’t help her husband cross the border.

“I mean, we’re so upset with this I’m ashamed to be Canadian,” Hutz says.

He currently lives in Ferndale, Michigan.

He’s applied for Canadian citizenship but has yet to be approved.

Monday’s border announcement from the federal government doesn’t help their situation.

“It’s almost hard to decide where to live because we’d rather not be in either place right now,” Hutz tells CTV News.

She expects to be fully vaccinated this week and her husband has been for months.

Windsor West MP Brian Masse continues to push for a safe border task force.

“I’ve been vice chair of the Canada/US parliamentary association for 19 years and I’ve never seen a greater disconnect between administration than I do right now.”

Masse says there’s still no clarity in terms of how the two countries can reunite families.

“They don’t tell us the science, they don’t even tell us who they’ve consulted with and we have to live with that, and that’s unacceptable,” he says.