Karen Chickering counts herself among the Vermonters appalled by President Donald Trump's stance toward Canada, from his tariff threats to remarks about annexation. Rather than just stew over it, the 69-year-old Burlington woman decided to make amends. On March 15, Chickering drove up to the border town of Sutton, Québec, and went into every store she could find. She looked for something to buy — usually a piece of chocolate — then went up to the counter and explained the real purpose of her visit: to say sorry about the guy in Washington, D.C. She asked whether each shop might be willing to display a handmade poster, either in the back, for staff, or out front, for the world to see. The posters featured the words "Vermont loves Canada," inside a big red heart, beneath which Chickering wrote, "Neighbors by chance, friends by choice. Merci, Canada!" "I wanted to show our neighbors, our friends for hundreds of years, that we appreciated them and we weren't the threat," she said. The apology tour was a nerve-racking venture for the self-described introvert, made more so by the fact that some younger store clerks weren't quite sure what to make of a gray-haired poster peddler. But those old enough to recognize how damaging Trump has been to U.S.-Canada relations were touched, Chickering said. Many mentioned that friends are no longer crossing the border in protest of U.S. policies. Some recalled how other Vermonters had stopped by to offer similar regrets. A few even burst into tears. "We had shared lots of hugs and stories," Chickering said, "and I left feeling like I had done, on a small scale, something positive." The original print version of this article was headlined "Désolé, Canada" … ...read more read less