Celebrating 40 years of cross-border cooperation

Though it is simply a line on a map, the border between Canada and the United States is an important part of Whatcom County. What happens at the border — and on either side of the border — affects the local economy. Take as an example last year's brouhaha over exempting residents of British Columbia from paying Washington sales tax.

So it naturally follows that it would be in our best interest to know about our neighbor to the north, who also happens to be Washington's number one trading partner.

This is where the Center for Canadian-American Studies enters the picture. Forty years ago, a group of people at Western Washington University recognized a need to better understand the relationship between the U.S. and Canada.