00:00The place where Canada is closest to Europe, the easternmost point of North America.
00:06For generations, the fishing industry has shaped the lives of the people here and their relationship with the U.S.,
00:13one that's currently under fundamental review.
00:16We're going to continue to move away from the U.S., even if the relationships start to mend.
00:21A library right on the border between Canada and the United States.
00:26The historic main entrance is now closed to Canadians and under heavy U.S. guard.
00:33Many were sad about something that broke, a friendship that was broken.
00:39Since Donald Trump's trade war against Canada and his attacks on the country's sovereignty,
00:45how closely are Canada and Europe aligning?
00:49Petit Harbour is situated near St. John's, Canada's easternmost town.
00:55It's a small port in the east coast of Newfoundland.
00:59Many people here have Irish roots.
01:02Fishmonger Jeremy Hearn is one of them.
01:05When the boats land their catch, it's processed at his business.
01:10For decades, the United States was his most important market.
01:14But he's now keen to explore new avenues.
01:18With the uncertainty, with the tariffs and stuff, you don't know what's going to happen day to day with the
01:22political landscape.
01:23People are starting to want to get away from the states just to avoid all of this and, you know,
01:28not have to worry about what the U.S. is going to do next.
01:31Jamie is setting his sights far across the Atlantic.
01:35Now that there's a door opening over there, it's new for everybody in the industry.
01:40Over there means Europe.
01:42Together with another Newfoundland fish processor, he's considering future exports to the European Union.
01:50In the pubs of St. John's, the traditions brought by migrants across the Atlantic live on to this day.
01:57The Irish roots are really about the music, the food, the people, the company, the dance,
02:02the whole, as they call it in Ireland, the crack, but we just call it a good time, right?
02:07So we do it every day.
02:09Fergus came from Ireland to Newfoundland as a young man,
02:13a geographical and cultural connection honoured in his music.
02:17I don't know that Canada will ever become part of Europe,
02:20but the association and spreading our wings to be part of the larger scope of the world, especially Europe.
02:30The town hall of St. John's forging closer ties with Europe is a top priority.
02:36Trump showed that our trusted partners we had before may not be there right now,
02:41and we need to look for other areas where we can prosper and grow our economy.
02:49Personally, I think we might have relied a bit too much on the United States over the time.
02:55And, says the mayor, that's where Europe comes in.
02:58Europe is a place that we have so much in common with.
03:03It will be our natural partners in many cases.
03:06At the summit in Montreal at the end of October,
03:09Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the European Union
03:12launched a process toward an associated membership for Canada.
03:18What does that mean?
03:19It means the closest possible partnership without being a full member of the European Union,
03:26because Canada is not in Europe geographically and therefore cannot have accession.
03:3280% of Canadians are in favour of associate membership.
03:36Now, they don't know what it means,
03:37but it shows the extent of this feeling of Canadian sovereignty
03:43and also, I think, distrust of the United States.
03:48Canada shares the world's longest land border with the U.S.
03:54And here in the small town of Stansted people experience daily and at first hand how relations with the U
04:02.S. have changed.
04:03Checks at border crossings have become much stricter and this library stands right on that frontier.
04:11This is Sylvie Baudreau.
04:13Even as chair of the Board of Trustees,
04:15the Canadian has been unable to use the main entrance to the library,
04:20located in the U.S. since October 2025.
04:24It's been 125 years that the library is open.
04:29For all that time, the main entrance has been in the United States.
04:35Today, border control officers' cameras keep a close watch on both sides.
04:40Anyone failing to comply risks a $5,000 fine.
04:45When it happened, it was more sad than anything else.
04:51A lot of people were angry.
04:53Many were sad also about something that broke, a friendship that was broken.
05:01These days, Canadians have to use the converted emergency exit
05:05to get to the library from Canada, right through the bookshelves.
05:10We are stepping into the United States right now.
05:16So, this is the famous line.
05:19This is where people are taking pictures.
05:22Usually, they take pictures like this.
05:24So, you have the United States and Canada.
05:26And voilà, this is the famous pictures.
05:30Almost everyone takes that pictures.
05:33Everyone.
05:34The mayor of the border town of Stansted, with a population of 3,000,
05:38is convinced that Canada and the European Union
05:41should forge as close a relationship as possible.
05:45Europe is the perfect example of partners
05:48that are more like-minded to Canadians than, unfortunately, Americans are.
05:54Donald Trump has unexpectedly and inadvertently united Canada, says the mayor.
06:01I definitely believe the relationship will never be the same.
06:04Unfortunately, that's the reality.
06:07Could it come back to something still good?
06:10I believe so.
06:11We're too close to our neighbors to the south
06:14to not have some kind of a good relationship.
06:17But I think there's a trust element to all of this.
06:21And when trust is gone, it's hard to get back.
06:26Canada and the U.S. will always be neighbors.
06:29While geographical location won't ever change, relations can and will.
06:34Well, I mean, it's good to get into Europe and different markets.
06:37I mean, it's good to diversify instead of putting all your eggs in one basket.
06:41Canada has to find new partners in Europe.
06:44It's like our friends.
06:46It's like cousins.
