Canada Customs Christmas Spirit
Over the holidays, I was fortunate enough to travel to California to spend Christmas in the sun. I was quick to learn flying is no longer a pleasant experience it once used to be.
At Pearson, it took me an hour and half to clear the ticket line, Homeland Security and then Canadian airline security. They herd people like cattle, but that's life nowadays.
Arriving back home was an interesting experience. Clearing Customs in Canada is always an aggravating gong show. For some reason, our border security agency insists on treating its own citizens as criminals. Only in Canada.
On my return from California, as soon as the Customs agent learned my trip was to spend Christmas with family, she grilled me with questions about my Christmas gifts of all things. Not questions to verify my identity, but questions to find out if I owe them any money. Silly me only declared the $30 of purchases I made, not the FREE gifts I received.
Well, clearly not satisfied with my replies, the agent scribbled some code on my Customs card and off I went, only to be pulled aside by another agent waiting by the door to the luggage carrousels. Again, the questions about the gifts! "What gifts did you get? How many gifts did you get? What are the value of the gifts?" It seemed every Customs agent I happened upon failed to understand the concept of Christmas gifts and my inability to put a value to them, because, well, they were gifts.
Although my experience was an isolated experience, it speaks to the larger mentality of our federal government and maybe our society. Since when did it become okay for our government to treat its citizens like lying criminals? When did it become acceptable to interrogate Canadians like they were visitors to a foreign country? Why do I have to dread returning to my own country?
At Pearson, it took me an hour and half to clear the ticket line, Homeland Security and then Canadian airline security. They herd people like cattle, but that's life nowadays.
Arriving back home was an interesting experience. Clearing Customs in Canada is always an aggravating gong show. For some reason, our border security agency insists on treating its own citizens as criminals. Only in Canada.
On my return from California, as soon as the Customs agent learned my trip was to spend Christmas with family, she grilled me with questions about my Christmas gifts of all things. Not questions to verify my identity, but questions to find out if I owe them any money. Silly me only declared the $30 of purchases I made, not the FREE gifts I received.
Well, clearly not satisfied with my replies, the agent scribbled some code on my Customs card and off I went, only to be pulled aside by another agent waiting by the door to the luggage carrousels. Again, the questions about the gifts! "What gifts did you get? How many gifts did you get? What are the value of the gifts?" It seemed every Customs agent I happened upon failed to understand the concept of Christmas gifts and my inability to put a value to them, because, well, they were gifts.
Although my experience was an isolated experience, it speaks to the larger mentality of our federal government and maybe our society. Since when did it become okay for our government to treat its citizens like lying criminals? When did it become acceptable to interrogate Canadians like they were visitors to a foreign country? Why do I have to dread returning to my own country?
posted by Jason at 6:22 AM
1 Comments:
Interestingly, I had no such bad experience.
We took our two older boys to Disneyland - we flew from Van to LA then from San Diego to Van. Going down was quick and easy - we were earlier than we needed to be but Vancouver's lobby on the other side of security is really nice. Security made my younger boy (almost 3) walk through the gate with his hands up. Apparently it gives a false positive if you touch the sides. But that was as wierd as it got.
On the way back, at San Diego, it got a little more extreme (going back to Canada?). We had to remove our jackets, hats, glasses, and even SHOES before we walked through the gate. But other than that it was a cakewalk, even with all the junk we brought back with us.
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