For 14 years, I lived my dream of owning and operating a chain of boutiques, with my flagship store in Blaine. I opened four stores across the Pacific Northwest and was honoured to win Best Boutique for eight consecutive years. 

My business survived COVID. We weathered inflation and a difficult election year. But nothing could have prepared me for 2025.

Almost immediately, the threat of tariffs drove my cost of goods up by 50–70%. A pair of jeans that had cost me $15 wholesale suddenly cost $27. I absorbed as much of the increase as I could, but eventually, I had no choice but to pass some of those costs on to my customers.

Then came the threats of annexation and making Canada the 51st state. Every time the President made those threats, I braced for another dramatic drop in Canadian traffic and sales. Month after month, I watched my business deteriorate.

I appealed to my customers, but Canadian shoppers weren’t returning. Meanwhile, American customers were also feeling the squeeze of rising prices driven by tariffs and inflation. The pressure was coming from both sides of the border, and there was nowhere left to

I held on for as long as I could. I even used funds from a new Canadian branch of my business to prop up my U.S. store. But eventually, I could no longer afford to pay wages or rent. In May, I was forced to close my flagship store.

It was devastating. Fourteen years of hard work, relationships, and a dream I had built from the ground up came to an end.

Then, on September 8, the trade war escalated further, with Trump imposing a 50% duty on Canadian-made goods. Canada responded with reciprocal duties on U.S. goods. For my Canadian business, this created yet another impossible challenge: I had to avoid sourcing products made in the United States. At the same time, I could no longer ship to my American customers. Tariffs forced me to cancel orders and suspend shipments from Canada to the U.S.

And then came one final blow.

Two weeks ago, during what should have been a routine trip to import goods from the U.S. into Canada, I lost my NEXUS privileges. Now, whenever I cross the border, I am referred for secondary questioning.

I spent 14 years building a business that brought people together across the border. I created jobs, served my communities, and built something I was incredibly proud of. I survived a global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and rising costs. But the combined impact of tariffs, political threats, declining cross-border traffic, and now increased scrutiny at the border has pushed my business beyond what it can withstand.

This is not just about tariffs or politics. It is about the real people and small businesses caught in the middle. It is about livelihoods lost, dreams dismantled, and years of hard work undone by circumstances beyond our control.

Behind every small business is a person who has invested their time, their money, their heart, and often their entire life into making it succeed.

I know because I am one of them.