The line-up to the Canada border started early Sunday evening.
By the time the border opened, the line-up was nearly 5 kilometres long and some people had to wait six to seven hours to cross.
International Falls Chamber President Tricia Heibel says vehicles moved every 30 to 40 minutes at a time.
Heibel says they’ve seen long lines before, but traffic usually moves quicker.
She says they set-up a porta potty in their parking lot as their restrooms have been closed since COVID.
Heibel believes local businesses benefited with some travellers arriving a day or two early.
Hundreds of American travellers were processed on the first day of border restrictions being relaxed.
Regional Director General for Northern Ontario, Shawn Hoag, says he wasn’t surprised.
“We expected there to be this pent-up demand. How big it was going to be, I think is something that we weren’t sure of but certainly from what we saw when people started to line-up in International Falls, it was clear there was a lot of excitement.”
Hoag says additional resources were brought in to assist with the added workload.
Americans need to get a COVID test two weeks in advance, show proof of vaccination and download their information to the ArriveCan app.
Hoag says everything had to be completed before arriving.
“Officers have very little discretion. Those who don’t have it done may find themselves directed back to the U.S.. That’s not to say that as soon as you’re back in the U.S. you can update all of your information, and make sure that you comply, and then come back across.
Hoag says officers are checking that each person crossing has complied with the public health requirements.
He believes the long line-ups will continue for the next couple of days as people get used to the new measures in place.
