cb

My 28-year old son has crossed into Canada from Buffalo many times because we have family in Toronto. It was often with us, a few times with his younger brother. But when he went by himself to go to his cousins' graduation party, he spent 2 hours at customs. His car, his belongings, and everything he had were searched. Car stereo speaker boxes and spare tire were taken apart. All the nicely wrapped gifts were opened, even his address book was thoroughly inspected. After the inspection, there was no comment from the inspector, no thanks, no apology, and everything left a mess. <BR> <BR>Raised in the suburbs, with a college degree and a career in television, he does not look nor act like a drug dealer. He did not think he aroused suspicion by saying "hi" as he drove up to the gate. He is non-white and drives a Ford Mustang. <BR> <BR>Anybody have advice to avoid being detained unnecessarily ? Is a mustang a suspicious car in Ontario ? <BR>Doesn't Canada have dogs that sniff ?

gary

Customs and Immigration horror stories are nothing new although most that I hear are about the Americans. One not untypical situation happened at the Vancouver Airport about a year ago. When flying to the US from most Canadian Airports you go through US Customs before you get on your plane. <BR> <BR>A 15 year old, very attractive, very well proportioned young girl was flying to the states to visit relatives. She was wearing her Catholic school uniform which consisted of a tight sweater and a short skirt. She was white by the way. Got the picture. OK <BR> <BR>The first thing the Immigration officer says to her is something like 'you going to be hustling down there?', followed by 'who's your pimp', and other comments like that. The girl was totally shocked and pleaded total ignorance about what they were talking about. She was then taken into an interrogation room where she was not allowed even to phone her parents who had just dropped her off. After about two hours they finally released her - she'd obviously missed her plane and was in a state of shock. <BR> <BR>To make a long story short the girl's parents demanded an explanation and apology. when none was forthcoming they went to the media who followed up. The Immigration guys confirmed the event and not only refused to apologize but said the entire family would not likely be allowed into the States in the future for raising such a fuss. <BR> <BR>There is no higher authority to complain to. Unlike Canadian border authorities US agents have absolute authority and a decision by them is virtually unrevocable. <BR> <BR>There is a higher authority for Canadian Agents and you can complain but in all liklihood they will tell you that there was a profile alert out and they were only doing their job. <BR> <BR>As a Canadian I apologize and sincerely hope, but cannot say for sure, that there was nothing racist in their actions. If it ever happens again I would register a formal complaint at the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo or maybe you should do it now. Good luck and again I apologize.

garyt

One 100% guaranteed method to trigger a customs inspection is to have wrapped gifts in the car. I live 5 minutes from the US/Canada border and the only time I have ever been stopped was on the way to a Wedding in Toronto with a beautifully wrapped gift. When I asked the inspector why I had been pulled over, he explained that the wrapped box justified a full inspection. Wrapping anything equals hiding something. He recommended that in the future, that gifts be left unwrapped until after the border crossing, even if that meant pulling into a rest stop for the wrapping. Sorry about your son.

Bob Brown

American border officials seem to be the most arbitrary and insufferable of all the ones I have run into. I know that in England, France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, <BR>Denmark, The Netherlands, and Canada I have never! had the irritating experiences I have had re-entering the USA. <BR>It has gotten to the point that I take my passport with me to Canada just to forestall some of the guff I have run into. <BR>The major inquiries have been at airports. Showing my passport seemed to preclude considerable discussion, if any conclusions can be drawn from the grilling that people ahead of me in line received. <BR> <BR>One friend of mine, who is an MD with a Navajo parent, got a particularly rough time of it returning home from Vancouver, BC after a medical convention. She did not have her passport, but she did have her voter registration card and driver's license, which at the time was said in offical publications to be insufficient. <BR>Finally, a telephone call to her employer was required to satisfy the inquistor. She darned near missed her flight. <BR> <BR>The only time I thought I was going to have a real argument occurred two years ago when I crossed into Montana from Calgary driving a rental car I picked up at the airport. After a series of questions like "Whose car is this? Where did you get it? Why are you driving it? Are you an American? If you are an American, why are you in a Canadian car coming into the United States? Why did you fly into Canada to rent a car? Where are you going to return it? Who is that with you?" <BR>My wife pulled out the rental contract and her passport, and I had my passport out to show the guy when he waved me on. <BR>As we drove off, my wife remarked later that had we not pulled out our passports, we would still be there. <BR>Maybe he thought we were Bonnie and Clyde and we had just heisted a bank in Claresholm. <BR> <BR>I do not know what can be done, except send the typical bitch letter to your congressman and both senators from your state. <BR> <BR>I think there are 3 absolute monarchs left in western civilization, a full professor reading a student's dissertation, a naval captain at sea, and an American border official in an irritable mood. <BR>

cb

Thanks for all your suggestions and comments. Absolute monarch is an appropriate term.

Owen O'Neill

My brother (who is white) underwent a simlar experience several years ago when he was crossing at the Thousand Islands Bridge heading to Ottawa. He was later advised by a Canadian friend who is a lawyer (actually the very person he was going to visit), that he likely fit one of the profiles used in border checks. In his case it was age (30's), lack of luggage, lack of a specific itinerary ("just going to visit a friend for the day"), sports /sporty type car, traveling alone, well dressed etc.. It's not fair but it does happen. His ordeal lasted nearly four hours. Unfortunate but true.