Canadian woman dies in U.S. after fears of detainment prevented her from seeking medical care
Last month Paige Adamson was stopped at a U.S.-Canada border crossing and interrogated for hours about whether she had unlawfully voted in a U.S. election. She died at home on Sunday after a fall, telling friends she was scared of being detained if she sought medical care.
Neighbour says Paige Adamson refused to call paramedics despite being unable to stand unaided
Ruby Cornish · CBC News
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A 61-year-old Canadian woman living in the isolated U.S. town of Point Roberts, Wash., has died after refusing to seek medical care out of fears she would be detained or deported.
Paige Adamson made headlines last month when she was stopped at the Point Roberts border crossing, south of Tsawwassen, and interrogated for hours about whether she had unlawfully voted in a U.S. election.
The U.S. permanent resident was scheduled to appear at a deportation hearing before a federal immigration judge in Seattle on Nov. 4.
Point Roberts community support officer Annelle Norman said Adamson called her on Thursday night asking to borrow a pair of crutches from local nonprofit Circle Of Care.
"I took them over and found her literally debilitated on the sofa, in very, very bad pain," Norman said.
"She told me that she had slipped and fallen on her right side … she was relying on the help of a few friends to come and help her get up and take her to the bathroom."
Norman, who was also a friend and neighbour of Adamson, said she urged the distressed woman to call paramedics or visit the local Point Roberts health-care clinic.
"And she said, 'No, no, I'm afraid if I go, I won't be able to come back. They'll keep me or they'll deport me.'"
Point Roberts community support officer Annelle Norman says she urged Paige Adamson to call paramedics or visit the local health-care clinic. (CBC News)
Point Roberts is a U.S. pene-exclave at the southern tip of the Tsawwassen Peninsula, completely cut off by land from the rest of the country.
U.S. immigration lawyer Len Saunders said Adamson had mentioned not feeling well and needing to see a doctor. Residents of Point Roberts have to cross into Canada in order to get to other parts of Washington state or the U.S. and there was a risk she would be detained by ICE upon return to the U.S.
Adamson was a permanent resident of the U.S. who had been living in Point Roberts for more than 14 years and crossed the Canadian border countless times. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
"She was quite frankly scared about trying to drive up to Canada and come back in," Saunders said.
"There are no doctors where she lives. For all practical purposes, she was in detention," he said.
"I mentioned to her that I'd heard of people in the past maybe taking a boat or taking an airplane. But financially, I don't think she could afford it. She didn't have a lot of money."
Norman said she checked in on Adamson over the weekend, but her friend's condition had not improved.
"The next message that I got was on Monday, telling me to show up at her address," she said.
"She had died sometime in the hours previous."
In a statement, Whatcom County Sheriff public information officer Deb Slater said the death "appeared to be of natural causes."
Louise Trapp, operations manager with the medical examiner, said Adamson's body was in her office's care pending examination by a forensic pathologist.
'Absolute worst case outcome'
Adamson was a permanent resident of the U.S. who had been living in Point Roberts for more than 14 years.
According to Saunders, her status meant she was legally entitled to leave and enter the country while awaiting deportation proceedings, but border officials had the right to detain her if they saw fit.
"Officers have the right to take you into detention and send you on a one-way trip to the Northwest Detention Centre down in Tacoma," he said.
Immigration lawyer Len Saunders says Paige Adamson had been missing appointments with her doctor in Bellingham, Wash., due to fears of being detained or deported trying to cross the border. (Martin Diotte/Radio-Canada)
"I asked her to speak to the Peace Arch port-of-entry. I believe she had called them but was given no guarantees on what would happen … I could understand her concerns."
As a U.S. resident, accessing health care in British Columbia was not an option. CBC News reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment but did not hear back before deadline.
Saunders said he couldn't believe it when he was advised of Adamson's death on Sunday.
"This is an absolute worst case outcome. Here's a lady with no prior immigration violations, no criminal convictions. She was about as squeaky clean as you could get," he said.
Adamson is survived by two sons, both residents of B.C.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ruby Cornish is a journalist with CBC News based in Vancouver. She spent more than a decade reporting, producing and presenting with Australia's public broadcaster before relocating to Canada in 2026.
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