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International borders are symbols of free countries. Here is the border of Austria, as seen from the Czech Republic. They are free countries. You can go from one to the other without being searched and interrogated by armed men demanding to know why you are traveling and requiring you to prove that you are not a terrorist invading their country.
International borders are symbols of free countries. Here is the border of Austria, as seen from the Czech Republic. They are free countries. You can go from one to the other without being searched and interrogated by armed men demanding to know why you are traveling and requiring you to prove that you are not a terrorist invading their country.
Except that you can't enter the Schegen Area, of which both countries are members without a similar search and interrogation. Simply put, all countries are satisfied that each others' border security is competent enough to detain any unwanted persons, and therefore, no such people are likely to enter from inside the Area.
Canada and the US have entertained thoughts of entering into a similar, continental border security arrangement in the past - However, public sentiment has been highly critical. Canadians were wary of ceding too much control of their affairs to the US, while Americans seemed wary of trusting security to anyone else.
Could be there was some sort of alert and you fit the description.
Could be. I was traveling with 2 other friends on motorcycles, but we were hardly a "biker gang" -- for one thing, none of us was riding a Harley.
I did document what I went through once I had pulled over, answered the usual questions (no drugs, no guns) and gone inside --this was at Abbotsford BTW:
Wait at yellow line for something to happen.
Get waved over, rather nonchalantly, to a window manned by an immigration agent to surrender passport for a bit and answer some questions. These included, as far as I can remember:
Where do you live?
How long have you lived there?
Where do you work? (I had to fudge this one a bit [I was between jobs at the time])
Are you riding with those guys?
How long have you known them?
How do you know them?
Where do they work? (for one of them, I actually had no idea)
How can you be friends with someone and not know where they work?
What do you and your friends do when you're together? ("We hang out at sleazy bars," I did not answer.)
Go sit down in an airport-style seat for a couple of minutes
Get waved back to a different window to answer some more questions, including:
Where are you going?
Where are you staying?
How long will you be there?
What kind of motorcycle do you ride?
Why did you come all the way up here just for a day trip? (by this point, I was starting to wonder)
How much money do you have?
Do you know anyone in Canada?
Go sit in the chair for a little while longer
Finally get summoned to retrieve passport by a third agent, with wishes for a safe journey.
I think we can safely agree that this does not constitute "lax" treatment.
By contrast, when I rode back in the U.S. the following day the whole process, including the wait in line, took all of about 5 minutes.
The reason why Canada and the U.S. don't have a Schengen-style agreement allowing for almost completely open borders is because Americans would never let themselves be subject to a supranational entity like the EU or Schengen. Canadians on the other hand are more open to the idea, and often talk about why other countries should listen to the UN as though it was the world government. The only alternative to a supranational entity would be for Canadians to let the U.S. set Canada's immigration and customs laws. Canadians would NEVER allow this, since a large part of their identity consists of trying to be different from the U.S. Therefore there will never be an open border.
The lack of open border not only makes it difficult to visit the U.S., but it also prevents Canadians from enjoying lower prices by taking advantage of the large common market of fifty states and territories. Canadians are prevented from shipping items easily from the U.S. In addition to this, the border makes it legally impossible for most Canadians and Americans to work in the others' countries, tiny concessions in NAFTA notwithstanding. In most cases, it is not any easier for an American to work in Canada than it is for someone from Nepal or Kyrgystan, from an immigration point of view.
The reason why Canada and the U.S. don't have a Schengen-style agreement allowing for almost completely open borders is because Americans would never let themselves be subject to a supranational entity like the EU or Schengen. Canadians on the other hand are more open to the idea, and often talk about why other countries should listen to the UN as though it was the world government. The only alternative to a supranational entity would be for Canadians to let the U.S. set Canada's immigration and customs laws. Canadians would NEVER allow this, since a large part of their identity consists of trying to be different from the U.S. Therefore there will never be an open border.
The lack of open border not only makes it difficult to visit the U.S., but it also prevents Canadians from enjoying lower prices by taking advantage of the large common market of fifty states and territories. Canadians are prevented from shipping items easily from the U.S. In addition to this, the border makes it legally impossible for most Canadians and Americans to work in the others' countries, tiny concessions in NAFTA notwithstanding. In most cases, it is not any easier for an American to work in Canada than it is for someone from Nepal or Kyrgystan, from an immigration point of view.
The lack of an open border keeps Canada Canadian. I can imagine how Canada would disappear if we gave up the border for some cheap goods.
As you pointed out, it will never happen. As for people from the U.S. working in Canada..this link is interesting..
Kudos to the original poster, for having the sense to admit that he didn't "actually " enter Canada.
As for the person who asked about "how often do you cross " ? I spent five years, working as a owner operator, with my own one ton van, under contract to a Expedite Freight company, based in Cambridge , Ontario. I was in the U.S, at least 3 or 4 days of each week, making deliveries, during that five year period of time. You do the math, as to how many times a year I crossed the International border, times five years in that career.
That was after I spent 30 years as a Military Police investigator, with the Canadian Forces. For those who may not know. the CF Military Police are Canadian Federal Law Enforcement officers, with the same powers of arrest and jurisdiction as RCMP Constables.
Jim B
Toronto.
Eyebrow raising, they allow any MP given a single stripe the power to arrest civilians outside of defence areas ?
Hmm nope, they will not give MPs that power in Aus or NZ.
Please take the time to read this information, about the Canadian Forces Military Police, and their jurisdiction, and their training. CFMP officers are professional law enforcement officers, who are not just " a bloke in a uniform ".
CFMP's are involved, on a regular basis, in multi force investigations, that involve such things as drug smuggling, arms thefts, and organised crime groups. As I said, they are Federal Law enforcement officers, who work closely with other Police units, such as the RCMP , and Provincial and municipal Police forces. They also provide close protection for the PM and other Cabinet Ministers, when they travel outside of Canada, and CFMP's are stationed at Canadian Embassies and High Commission offices, abroad, doing physical security, and escort duties.
And of course, they are also trained soldiers, so they do deploy to such places as Afghanistan, and in the past to Bosnia, where they conducted extensive investigations into the ethnic cleansing murders.
A couple months ago, back in September I believe it was, I was asked by my work if I could pull a couple samples of gasoline at gas stations in the UP (upper peninsula Michigan) that might have been giving out bad gas.
I traveled the whole UP, went to many different towns across this beautiful state, and at one point ended up in Sault Ste Marie. The gas station I was at was a Citgo that literally directly faced Canada, and I had never been to Canada nor been that close to Canada before, but I don't have a passport. I asked the gas station attendant if I could get into Canada without one, and to my surprise she said yea, they will probably let you in with no issue.
Me, being stupid but also curious, tried it.
The guy who worked the post right before crossing the bridge into Canada was very friendly, and even more to my surprise, did not ask me for any identification at all. All he wanted was the three bucks it costs to cross the toll.
It wasn't until after I got onto the bridge that I was able to look on the other bridge entering back into the US that I noticed there was a line a mile long, four different lanes, cops everywhere, etc. I knew I had messed up immediately and was actually kind of scared that I was going to get into a bit of trouble.
When I entered back into the US, I pulled out every single piece of identification I could possibly think of, including my gym membership, and told the guards I crossed on accident, which obviously they didn't believe but anyway... I was detained for about 45 minutes as they strip searched my car, had dogs sniff it for drugs, deep background checks, etc. I'm sure they get people like me all the time, and in fact there was several other people detained with me.
I guess it just kind of boggled my mind as to how lax they are about border security as far as the Canadian side goes. Canada hasn't dealt with the same issues of illegal immigration and terrorism that the US has, so I understand the lack of paranoia. But I was surprised that the guy didn't even request an I.D. from me.
Is this how most border crossings going into Canada are? The only other time I've been close to the Canadian border was on the New York side this February, in a town called Ogdensburg and needless to say I didn't try the same thing again, the experience with the US border patrol was slightly scary. I did think I was going to get some sort of fine or penalty, but nothing happened. However, I'm sure they put my name on a registry or something. I don't think they would just let the same person do the same thing over and over again for the hell of it.
canadians arn't 'lax' about entering the border, its US thats a bit ANAL about entering ITS borders. US IS very much in a state of paranoia and fear from terrorism.. it is slowing turning into a police state. Alot like germany was under hitler
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