4 ms·

There's an entertaining CGP Grey video about other oddities in the US-Canada border. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw https://www.youtube.com/watch?

There's an entertaining CGP Grey video about other oddities in the US-Canada border. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMkYlIA7mgw Considering how inconvenient it is in some geographies and how small the patches of land are, I'm always surprised the State Department doesn't negotiate a land exchange treaty with Canada to fix what are essentially cartography bugs. Both sides would spend a few tens of millions compensating people for land seizures and dealing with the administrative overhead of negotiating and ratifying the deal but would gain it back over time with simplified border stations.

52-6F-62 8y ago
There's a fantastic film about this very plight. It's called Super Troopers 2. ;P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEed-o8fVpM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEed-o8fVpM (possibly nsfw)
grawprog 8y ago
I grew up in Delta near Point Roberts. It's a part of America located on the southern end of a peninsula, the rest of which, is part of British Columbia. They have an elementary school but not a high school in point roberts. So, when I was in high school, most of the people from Point Roberts would be bussed into Tsawwassen but we had a bus that would bring a few of them to the high school I went to. That seems like a perfect area that could be part of your land exchange idea. All the teenagers there end up going to school in Canada anyway. There's only one crossing between Point Roberts and Canada.
- Scoundreller 8y ago
  Then where will Canadians deliver their EBay, Amazon and other US vendor packages? Have you seen how much cheaper auto parts are in USA?
  - snaveed 8y ago
    Blaine. :)
- walrus01 8y ago
  I don't understand what you're trying to say. US residents can't register their children for public school in Delta or Surrey. There is a school bus that goes from point Roberts to Blaine every day, with special permission to bypass the border checkpoint, which takes all of the Point Roberts high school students to the HS in Blaine.
  - grawprog 8y ago
    Some people in Point Roberts have dual citizenships. Some of the ones with both Canadian and American citizenships had their kids attend school in Canada. My highschool and a closer one in south delta had a bus for those people. Sorry my original comment was kind of unclear. There was about 6 people that took the bus from there whike I was going to school there, there was about 2000 people in my school.
    - walrus01 8y ago
      Even with dual citizenship, people can't just send their kids to a Canadian school if it's not their primary residence. In BC you have to show proof of location to register a kid for school, either you own your home, or you show a copy of your lease, utility bills, etc. If I had to guess they were using relatives' houses claimed as their actual residential address. This has been a problem in Vancouver recently with people claiming false residence addresses to register their kids for the "good" elementary schools in yaletown and kitsilano.
      - grawprog 8y ago
        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington#Education https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington#Ed... https://web.archive.org/web/20121105113833/http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b887d3f8-2eb5-4886-b42a-b056ed05b509 https://web.archive.org/web/20121105113833/http://www.canada... >Canadian kids are allowed to attend Delta's school district.
        Scoundreller 8y ago
AaronFriel 8y ago
Cartographic "bugs" are features to politicians.

52-6F-62 8y ago

There's a fantastic film about this very plight. It's called Super Troopers 2. ;P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEed-o8fVpM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEed-o8fVpM (possibly nsfw)

grawprog 8y ago

I grew up in Delta near Point Roberts. It's a part of America located on the southern end of a peninsula, the rest of which, is part of British Columbia. They have an elementary school but not a high school in point roberts. So, when I was in high school, most of the people from Point Roberts would be bussed into Tsawwassen but we had a bus that would bring a few of them to the high school I went to. That seems like a perfect area that could be part of your land exchange idea. All the teenagers there end up going to school in Canada anyway. There's only one crossing between Point Roberts and Canada.

Scoundreller 8y ago
Then where will Canadians deliver their EBay, Amazon and other US vendor packages? Have you seen how much cheaper auto parts are in USA?
- snaveed 8y ago
  Blaine. :)
walrus01 8y ago
I don't understand what you're trying to say. US residents can't register their children for public school in Delta or Surrey. There is a school bus that goes from point Roberts to Blaine every day, with special permission to bypass the border checkpoint, which takes all of the Point Roberts high school students to the HS in Blaine.
- grawprog 8y ago
  Some people in Point Roberts have dual citizenships. Some of the ones with both Canadian and American citizenships had their kids attend school in Canada. My highschool and a closer one in south delta had a bus for those people. Sorry my original comment was kind of unclear. There was about 6 people that took the bus from there whike I was going to school there, there was about 2000 people in my school.
  - walrus01 8y ago
    Even with dual citizenship, people can't just send their kids to a Canadian school if it's not their primary residence. In BC you have to show proof of location to register a kid for school, either you own your home, or you show a copy of your lease, utility bills, etc. If I had to guess they were using relatives' houses claimed as their actual residential address. This has been a problem in Vancouver recently with people claiming false residence addresses to register their kids for the "good" elementary schools in yaletown and kitsilano.
    - grawprog 8y ago
      https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington#Education https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Roberts,_Washington#Ed... https://web.archive.org/web/20121105113833/http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b887d3f8-2eb5-4886-b42a-b056ed05b509 https://web.archive.org/web/20121105113833/http://www.canada... >Canadian kids are allowed to attend Delta's school district.
      - Scoundreller 8y ago

AaronFriel 8y ago

Cartographic "bugs" are features to politicians.