This is going to kill the business at the Malls in Buffalo! Seems the Canuck gubmint is peeved a man with Canadian and Syrian dual citizenship was sent to Syria after being detained at a US airport in transit from Tunisia back to Montreal. No statement on WHY he was detained and deported.
This is an odd response, though.
Why is it odd? Canada is obliged to protect the interests of its citizens, and if the U.S. is engaged in some Kafka-esque beaurocratic nonsense like this, an advisory is a good idea.
Like the U.S., our population contains a large percentage of immigrants, including some from countries that the U.S. now looks upon with disfavour, if not outright paranoia. Had I been born in one of the listed countries but later received Canadain citizenship, I’d been damn concerned if stepping over the U.S. border could subject me to the whim of some mindless beaurocrat.
From:http://www.voyage.gc.ca/destinations/report_e.asp?country=United+States
Bolding mine.
I think it is unfortunate that there has to be an official warning, but its mostly common sense now. If you “look” middle-eastern and going to the US, be prepared.
I would be suprised if it had any significant impact to the volume of people crossing the line to do any shopping.
The man in question was at a stopover, and detained for unknown reasons-- US officials refuse to discuss why they sent a Canadian citizen to the Middle East without notification. Smacks of Big Brother if you ask me.
But he’s not the only victim of overzealous US immigration guards.
There’s a guy in a Quebec border town who is facing a felony for crossing the border without checking with US guards. This despite the fact that citizens from both sides of the border have routinely crossed over without informing guards for years-- and the US border post was closed! That guy is facing felony charges.
Let’s face it-- you Americans may be hurting and paranoid after September 11, but that’s no excuse for being stupid and rude. Deporting and arresting Canadian citizens and then refusing to discuss the matter with Canadian officials is inexcusable.
Blame Canada is just a song folks. Please write letters to your politicians and tell them to put pressure on Immigrations to start acting with a sense of fairness.
Or would you like it if Americans started getting thrown into prison and shipped to hostile countries ‘just for being American’?
Why is it odd? Canada is obliged to protect the interests of its citizens, and if the U.S. is engaged in some Kafka-esque beaurocratic nonsense like this, an advisory is a good idea.
Like the U.S., our population contains a large percentage of immigrants, including some from countries that the U.S. now looks upon with disfavour, if not outright paranoia. Had I been born in one of the listed countries but later received Canadain citizenship, I’d been damn concerned if stepping over the U.S. border could subject me to the whim of some mindless beaurocrat.
I think Barbarian has the right of it in this case.
The deportation to Syria without notifying Canada is not a defensable act at this point, from the facts I have seen reported. I have seen various political and economic sanctions between two friendly nations with issues between them; 100% tariffs, ejecting diplomats, cancelling visits, letters of censure, summits of leaders, and the like. I have NOT seen Travel Advisories between two such countries with such an huge undefended border. The action of the INS was poor. The response from Canada I see as unique.
This is the current Australian travel advisory in respect of the US.
The list of all current Australian travel advisories can be found here. As you can see, there are a lot of them, and most are of the CYA variety - I suspect the same is true of many other nations issuing warnings ATM.
This is also being discussed here.
I think it is entirely the appropriate response by our government.
My Og, there hasn’t been ANY appropriate response from the US government, except - Didn’t happen, didn’t see him, don’t know where he is, too bad for you all. Besides, you’re all terrorists or harbouring same.
Niiiiiiice. Care to explain how we’re such good allies again?
Yes, why didn’t they deport Howie Mandell instead?