Tensions simmer on US-Canada border for two towns relying on each other

Like many Canadians, Tom Reid isn’t crossing the US-Canada border as often these days. But he needed a haircut.

The woman who cuts his hair lives in International Falls, Minnesota – her “sister is married to my wife’s cousin”, he explained – and so Reid, whose duty free shop in Fort Frances, Ontario, has to travel to her.

That’s how it goes for the residents of the two towns, divided by the Rainy River and an international border. They’re longtime friends and, in many cases, family. People cross the border frequently to shop, dine, go bowling, take their kids to sports and