There is only one building in North America, probably in the world, where one can browse bestsellers and children’s books by crossing an international border and then sit for an amateur theatre troupe in a regal opera house with each half of your body in two different countries.
Standing near the Tomifobia River, a rushing body of water swollen from the spring melt, the Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the border of Canada and the US. Constructed more than a century ago as a deliberate rebuttal to borders and division, the imposing building split between Quebec and Vermont has become a beloved and fiercely protected part of communities in both countries.
But in recent months, the library has become the latest casualty in the trans-border feud that has strained relations between the two nations.
Peter Lépine began volunteering at the library 15 years ago after moving from Montreal, drawn to the creaky warren of rooms, each constructed from different types of wood.
“I’ve loved it,” he says on an April morning. “I love books, I love the people and I love the quiet. And today, mercifully, it’s quiet.”
For weeks, curious onlookers, outraged supporters and gaggles of media have descended on both Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont, after US officials announced the main entrance to the library, which sits in Vermont, would soon be cut off to Canadians. They cited drug traffickers and smugglers “exploiting” the accessibility and said the closure meant “we are ending such exploitation by criminals and protecting Americans” without providing evidence.
Under the new rules which go into effect in October, Canadians will need to go through a formal border crossing before entering the library.
The news, met with disbelief from patrons and staff, followed a closely watched visit by the US secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem, in March. Touring the library, Noem said “USA number one!” and then hopped over the black tape separating the two countries and said “51st state” when she landed in Canada. She repeated the joke – echoing Donald Trump’s recent fixation on annexing Canada – three times.
“It was incredibly disrespectful,” said Lépine. “There’s no other way to describe it. And it really hurt.”
Since the start of his second term, Trump has questioned Canada’s viability as a nation, suggesting that it could become the 51st American state, and deriding the outgoing prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as a “governor”. He has also called the border an “imaginary line” and threatened to use economic force to crush Canada’s economy.
The political theatre comes in stark contrast to a building meant to celebrate friendship and cooperation. Opened in 1904, before rules took effect that barred trans-border structures, the library and opera house were gifted by Martha Stewart Haskell, a Canadian philanthropist, and her son Horace. The aim was to gift something artistic to citizens of both countries for generations to come.
When finished, the building housed a 500-seat opera house, complete with a dazzling chandelier and a curtain painted to resemble Venice’s grand canal – original items still in use today. Like the library below, the worn black tape running through the opera marks the international border.
“There are seats up there where, when you’re sitting, you’ve got each cheek in a different country,” said Lépine. The Haskell hosts movie nights, poetry readings and theatre performances for a loyal following.
For the first 120 years of its existence, the conceit of the structure worked, mirroring a way in which the two communities largely shrugged at the notion of a border. Residents would cross over without ever showing paperwork as they shopped and visited friends.
Those halcyon days ended in 2001 after the attacks of 9/11, prompting border officials to begin requiring identification to pass. In recent years, US officials have grown increasingly wary about a sliver of the border that feels even more unprotected than the other 5,000 miles.
In 2018, C
