Two items are anticipated to come up during Monday's sit-down between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump: trade and the border.
Trump's executive order to bar travellers from seven Muslim-majority countries caused confusion at the Windsor-Detroit border when it was first implemented, and although restrictions have been lifted since a federal judge ruled against it, there are fears the so-called travel ban could be reinstated at any time. The states of Washington and Minnesota scored a court victory last week when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in their favour, but Trump has promised to take it to the Supreme Court.
Windsor West MP Brian Masse says he's been raising concerns about border restrictions targeting minorities since 2003, but so far, no prime minister has taken the U.S. leader to task for it.
"This separation of Canadian identity -- is against our principles to [the] core," says Masse. "There has been no prime minister to stand and say a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian."
Recently, doctors at Windsor Regional Hospital raised concerns about pregnant refugee mothers and sick infants that may need medical treatment in Detroit. Masse has sent the foreign affairs minister a letter requesting clarity and documentation for those patients at the border, but says almost two weeks later, he has not heard back from Chrystia Freeland.
Masse says he would like Trudeau to push Trump to give up the executive order, but admits he's not especially hopeful.
"I don't think he has the life experiences to understand what it means to not be able to go see your cousin, not be able to celebrate a birthday, a wedding, go to a funeral and mourn," says Masse pointing out that many in Windsor's Arab community have family in the Detroit area. "All of these things come from the practice experience of people on the border here that live it every single day."
On trade, Freeland told her counterpart in Washington last week that Canada will not sit by idly if the U.S. imposes a cross-border tax. Freeland says Canada will respond in kind.
