Resolution nears in border dispute between U.S. and war vet, golf course

A New Brunswick Conservative MP says he's optimistic a "made-in-Canada solution" can be found for a unique problem that could see barricades block a road leading to a war veteran's farm and a golf course near the U.S. border.

A small portion of Canadian soil can only be accessed by an American road, and the U.S. Border Services is trying to cut off that access to prevent people from crossing the border without going through a checkpoint.

The problem revolves around two American roads that lead to 85-year-old Nikolaj Pedersen's farm or to the Aroostook Valley Country Club in western New Brunswick. But to travel to those properties, Canadians must cross briefly on the Maine side of the international border.

Tobique-Mactaquac Conservative MP Mike Allen said American officials have made some allowances.

"We've got agreement on the emergency services going over," Allen said.

But that doesn't solve the problems of Pedersen's family members who want visit him or golfers trying access the country club.

Allen met with interested groups on Wednesday to come up with ideas to present to American authorities. He said one solution may include providing an access road through a nearby farm.

"There could be some land acquisition involved or there could be a right-of-way, or potentially someone signs a 99-year lease," he said.

"It's going to take a lot of work between the golf course, and the Pedersen family and the other working group."

For decades, U.S. officials have allowed people to use the road to get to the Pedersen farm, even though there's no border checkpoint. Friends, family, postal workers and newspaper carriers would turn down Russell Road, briefly entering the U.S., and then turn into Pedersen's driveway, crossing the border back into Canada.

But since a border crackdown in March, U.S. officials have said deliveries and visitors must check in with U.S. customs in Fairfield, Maine, before travelling to the Pedersen house.

It's a 33-kilometre detour that forces travellers to illegally re-enter Canada when they go down the driveway after their brief trip through the United States.

Although the route has been a long-standing practice, American officials say that amounts to crossing the border illegally, and they will barricade the road to force people through a checkpoint.